Experimental investigation of the dynamics of a fixed-bed reactor

Abstract The transient behavior of an adiabatic pilot-plant chemical reactor during start-up is studied. The reaction between oxygen and hydrogen over an alumina supported platinum catalyst is used, and it is demonstrated that the adsorption of water has a pronounced effect on the transient behavior of the reactor. The reactor is modeled by three partial differential equations, and excellent agreement is achieved between the observed temperature profiles and the model.