Visualization Study on Two-Phase Flow Behaviors in the Gas-Liquid-Solid Microreactor for Hydrogenation of Nitrobenzene

In this study, visualization study on the gas-liquid two phase flow characteristics in a gas-liquid-solid microchannel reactor was carried out. Palladium nanocatalyst was coated onto the polydopamine functionalized surface of the microchannel through eletroless deposition. The materials characterization results indicated that palladium nanocatalyst were well dispersed on the modified surface. The effects of both the gas and liquid flow rates as well as inlet nitrobenzene concentration on the two-phase flow characteristics were studied. The experimental results revealed that owing to the chemical reaction inside the microreactor, the gas slug length gradually decreased along the flow direction. For a given inlet nitrobenzene concentration, increasing the liquid flow rate or decreasing the gas flow rate would make the variation of the gas slug length more obvious. High inlet nitrobenzene concentration would intensify both the nitrobenzene transfer efficiency and gas reactants consumption, and thereby the flow pattern in the microchannel was transferred from Taylor flow into bubble flow. Besides, the effect of both flow rate and original nitrobenzene concentration on the variation of nitrobenzene conversion and the desired product aniline yield were also discussed.