How small do you like your reactors?

In practice, we make do with results as independent as possible from the method of measurement. Nevertheless, the importance of striving to minimise the effect of experimental design on our measurements cannot be overstated. Basically, we subdivide sample particles as finely as is practicable and we try to assess the behaviour of sample particles - as much as possible - in isolation from one another. This toy-sized reactor has served as platform for designing several different types of test. The initial design was for batch experiments, featuring a bubbling fluidised bed. Some 50-100 mg of sample was forced into the fluidised bed at 30 bar, through a tiny water-cooled high-pressure probe. Developing the probe used all the capabilities of our very versatile workshop. Yields were repeatable to within plusmn 2 percent; gases and solids could be recovered for characterisation. This paper present a wire mesh reactor that required less sample and gave better time resolution.