Physicochemical quantities in catalytic reactions measured simultaneously by gas chromatography

Summary

A small volume of reactant, 1-butene, is injected onto a catalytic bed and is allowed to diffuse away from it together with the product butane, along a narrow empty chromatographic tube; the latter is connected perpendicularly to the middle point of another similar tube through which hydrogen flows as reactant and carrier gas, transferring both 1-butene and butane to the detector through an analytical column. By using the reversed-flow GC technique, extra peaks are obtained in the chromatographic trace, sampling the concentration of both the readtant and product at the junction of the two tubes as a function of time. These concentrations are the result of the diffusion of the substances along the narrow empty tube, modified by the adsorption-desorption rates and the rate of the catalytic reaction.

From the extra peaks of the reactant and product, a number of physicochemical quantities pertaining to the catalytic reaction can be calculated simultaneously, using appropriate mathematical analysis. These include adsorption rate constants, reaction rate constants, desorption rate constants, partition coefficients, and the overall mass transfer coefficients of the reactant across the gas-solid boundary of the catalytic bed.