Copper alloy micro-structures for application in microreactors

JUAN M. ZAMARO; EDUARDO E. MIRÓ

Copper Alloys: Preparation, Properties and Applications

Novascience publishers

Lugar: New York; Año: 2010;

Microreactors are catalytic systems that allow reaching high mass and heat transfer rates. They exhibit advantages to be applied in highly exo and endothermic reactions that are hard to manipulate with powder or pellet catalysts. The microreactor core is made up of shaped microstructured supports having a thin catalytic film deposited onto the wall surface of their small channels. The heat transfer behavior and subsequent performance of these systems could be further improved if highly conductive materials are used as supports. Copper alloys are low-cost materials, with high thermal conductivity and high thermal diffusivity, easy to handle and commercially available within a broad range of geometrical configurations. All these characteristics make them interesting materials to be used in microreactors. In this work, we discuss the preparation of copper alloy microstructures covered with thin zeolite films as catalytic material, in various support geometries as plates, microchannels and microgrids. Zeolite synthesis variables are studied and the synthetic procedures are adapted to each support geometry, which allow obtaining thin, homogeneous and adherent zeolite coatings. The obtained zeolite/copper alloy microstructures have a great potential to be applied as catalytic units in microreactors for highly exo-endothermic gas phase reactions.