Highly conductive “packed foams”: A new concept for the intensification of strongly endo- and exo-thermic catalytic processes in compact tubular reactors

Monoliths: A Review of the Basics, Preparation Methods and Their Relevance to Oxidation

“…Also, quite promising in the near future, particularly to oxidation reactions, will be the preparation of conductive monoliths, where heat transfer is maximized by conduction [15,[298][299][300][301].…”

A comparison between washcoated and packed copper foams for the intensification of methane steam reforming

“…This indicates that the radiative contribution, which is expected due to the WF open structure, 23 did not provide any significant advantage even at 800°C, being likely compensated by the improvement of the wall heat transfer coefficient associated with the packed particles in PF. 15 Additional experimental investigations and a dedicated modelling analysis are needed to fully elucidate and quantify the contributions of the different heat transfer mechanisms, which will address the interactions among the copper matrix, the gas-packed bed pseudo-phase and/or the washcoat. This analysis will require a specific kinetics study to match the global heat transfer mechanisms with the local heat consumption contributions associated with the heterogeneous chemical process.…”

“…washcoat adhesion, catalyst loading, and regeneration). 15 The approach consists of filling the empty pores of open-cell foams with small catalytic particles, thus pursuing the twofold goal of enhancing the radial and axial heat transfer processes, thanks to the presence of highly conductive and interconnected matrices, and having a high catalyst inventory. Despite the great potential of this reactor configuration, at the present time, the use of packed foams is at an early stage, with only one reported experimental application to a highly exothermic process, i.e.…”

The pivotal role of an interconnected cellular conductive structure to manage heat removal in compact Fischer–Tropsch fixed-bed reactors

“…They exploit the same conductive heat transfer mechanism of the monolithic substrates but, in addition, they have the advantage of enabling radial mixing within their structures, thus enhancing both heat transfer and flow uniformity. 13,14 As in the case of packed monoliths, a point of strength of the open-cell foams is the possibility of packing catalyst particles in the void cavities, which overcomes the inherently limited catalyst inventory of washcoated structured reactors. 12 A question often raised on this reactor concept concerns the actual advantage of packing the catalyst within an interconnected conductive structure over simply diluting the catalyst bed with "particles" made of a conductive material.…”