Abstract
An internal-recycle catalytic reactor is described which can be operated under perfectly mixed conditions. The reactor is suitable for evaluating intraparticle mass transfer effects on reaction rate and yield in the consecutive hydrogenation of mesityl oxide over a copper-chromium oxide catalyst. The reactor has the advantages that accurate reaction rates are directly obtained, and that mathematical formulation is simpler than with an integral reactor. Effective diffusivities are determined from conversion data and compared with those calculated by a parallel-pore model and a random-pore model. The effective diffusivities predicted by both models closely agree with each other, and these values are close to those experimentally determined. The tortuosity factors determined from the parallel-pore model range from 1.4 to 3.4. These values fall within the range of previously published values. The calculated conversion and yield show relatively good agreement with the experimental results.
