Studies on deactivation kinetics of a heterogeneous catalyst using a concentration-controlled recycle reactor under supercritical conditions

A concentration-controlled continuously operated recycle reactor vias applied to study the deactivation kinetics of the heterogeneous catalytic disproportionation of ethylbenzene (EB) under supercritical conditions. First the possibility of this method was studied by simulation. On the basis of this simulation it was experimentally realised, thanks to the slow deactivation of the catalyst under supercritical conditions and high feed mole fraction, to determine directly the catalyst activity vs. time on stream. The method seems to be superior to classical methods based on the stationary kinetics of the reaction system. A model for the deactivation kinetic is presented.