Characterization of the performance of an industrial monolith reactor by accurate mapping of temperature differences

The performance of a liquid-phase hydrogenation carried out in a monolithic reactor on an industrial scale has been studied by measuring temperature differences accurately. The process studied is the hydrogenator in the autoxidation process for large-scale production of hydrogen peroxide by Eka Chemicals, Akzo Nobel. Temperature differences are primarily caused by the exothermic reaction and can be used to measure variations in local reaction rates. Non-uniformities in liquid flow distribution can also be detected. One important finding was the existence of multiple steady states that can be attributed to the stop/startup procedure.