Unsteady-state operation of reactors with fixed catalyst beds

The review is dedicated to the research and development work made in USSR and Russia in the area of catalytic processes with artificially created unsteady-state conditions. The paper discusses the reverse-flow operation of catalytic reactor, forced feed composition cycling and sorption enhancement of catalytic reactions. It is demonstrated that under proper choice of process concept and control strategy these approaches may result in creation of new technologies with improved efficiency, lower capital and operation costs, higher process stability under variation of process conditions and increased target product yield in thermodynamically limited reaction and complex reaction systems.