Fast Reliable Determination of Gas–Liquid Mass Transfer in Micropacked Beds via In-line Direct Measuring of Pressure Drop

Current methods for determining gas–liquid mass transfer or reaction performance in micropacked bed reactors (μPBRs) are inefficient and complex, hindering their application in high throughput screening, process optimization, and online monitoring. New fast determining technology is highly required. This study introduced an innovative soft measurement technology for reliable determining of gas–liquid mass transfer by directly correlating pressure drop with mass transfer coefficients through online measurement. We systematically analyzed the effect of various factors, including two-phase flow rate, packing particle size, front-end predispersion, gas composition, and liquid concentration on gas–liquid flow pressure drop and mass transfer in μPBRs. A predictive mathematical model for mass transfer coefficients was successfully established, and its capacity was successfully validated in the hydrogenation experiments within the Riedl–Pfleiderer process. This technology offers a fast, reliable, and real-time online approach for process monitoring, process optimization, and rapid catalyst screening within μPBRs.