Hydrocarbon Dehalogenation in a Tortuous Microreactor

Removing halogen groups from hydrocarbons is an important reaction step in several chemical processes. One application is water purification. Other examples involve organic synthesis, where the removal of halogen groups serves as a starting point for carbon-carbon coupling reactions. Typically, the carbon-halogen bond scission is activated by precious metal catalysts based on platinum or palladium.

The model presented here shows hydrocarbon dehalogenation as it occurs in a microreactor. The reactants are transported from the fluid bulk to the catalytic surfaces at the reactor walls, where they react.

A first model is set up in Reaction Engineering Lab, where two competing reactions are analyzed. Subsequently, the reaction kinetics is exported to the MEMS Module, where a space-dependent model of the microreactor is set up and solved.

Concentration distribution of the halogenated reactant RBr. Fluid properties and reaction rates are evaluated at 363 K.