(83u) High Temperature Reactions in Microstructured Reactors – Synthesis of Biphenyl by Pyrolysis of Benzene

The aim of the previous investigations was to show the feasibility of microstructured reactor processing for high-temperature pyrolysis of benzene to biphenyl at 800°C. Such kind of reactions are mostly of radical nature and therefore very fast but with low selectivity. The main products for this reaction are low molecular hydrocarbons and coke while the formation of biphenyl by establishing a C-C bond is not preferred. To increase the yield of biphenyl the residence time should be short and therefore fast heating and quenching of the reaction mixture is necessary.

All the experimental results show the possibility to use microstructured reactors for biphenyl synthesis. At 800°C yields up to 30% were achieved during the initial time of the pyrolysis. The coke formation prevents tooks place even at the very short residence times for the gas flow in a microreactor. The yield decreases to 8 to 2% similar to the known conventional processes.