No abstract

A theoretical analysis of the performance of a bimodal catalyst pellet which contains two different active components exhibiting different kinetics is presented in this paper. The isothermal interphase‐intraphase effectiveness of such bimodal catalysts with a bimolecular Langmir type kinetics (i.e. noble metal) and a first order kinetics (i.e. base metal oxide) is coupled with the continuity equation for a fixed bed reactor and a continuously stirred tank catalytic reactor. The catalysts with mixed mode kinetics exhibit a behaviour that is less affected by concentration changes than the single component catalyst. Reactor performance depends on the noble metal fraction but not in direct proportion. Thus in some cases conversion reaches high levels at fractional values of noble metal loadings which would in theory allow for equivalent performance with savings in noble metal component.