A combined infrared and gas chromatographic reaction system for in situ catalytic studies

Abstract

A novel flow system including an infrared cell with the capability of operating either as a pulse microreactor or a single-pass differential flow reactor has been constructed. With this new design, extensive in situ surface characterisation studies of working catalysts can be made. The following applications are considered: the measurement of extinction coefficients; the measurement of turnover numbers and activation energies; the measurement of product distributions; temperature programmed reaction and temperature programmed desorption studies; and the measurement of the surface coverage of adsorbed species under reaction condition. As an example, the reaction CO(g)+H₂(g) on silica-supported Pt-Ru bimetallic clusters is considered. Results obtained using the IR cell as a single-pass reactor are in excellent agreement with those obtained using a powdered catalyst placed in a conventional microreactor.