(545d) Localized Heating of Microreactors for Alkane Dehydrogenation

Microwave heating offers a number of advantages, including spatially localized heating. By selectively absorbing the electromagnetic energy, a controlled temperature region can be created around a solid structure. In this talk, we discuss how to leverage this localized heating and demonstrate its effect on propane dehydrogenation in a microwave reactor. Using a 3D printed monolith as a heating scaffold, we model the spatially localized conversion of propane to propene by solving the electromagnetic, fluid flow/continuity, energy, and species equations with laboratory-based chemical kinetics. We will also present a reduced model using the Maxwell-Garnett formulation for the electromagnetic properties and a porous flow model. Using this simpler model, we elucidate the potential of localized heating to suppress the homogeneous side reactions (i.e., cracking) while promoting heterogeneous chemistries. Finally, we present experiments conducted using a microwave reactor that support model predictions, thereby highlighting a unique opportunity for reaction engineering that is absent in conventionally heated reactors.