Recent Trends in Multi-Phase Reactor Engineering and Design

Gas-liquid-solid reactors are encountered in many production processes of the chemical, fuel, food and pharmaceutical industry. The solid catalyst is typically applied either as powder suspended in a liquid or as larger particles packed in porous beds. The reactor performance depends mainly on the solid catalyst and the interaction of the phases within the reactor vessel as well as between the phases and the reactor wall which dictate heat and mass transfer rates. This contribution reviews recent trends and the progress in gas-liquid-solid reactor engineering and design. In particular, it addresses the application of structured catalysts, micro-structured reactors, periodic operation, supercritical reaction conditions and the shift from fossil feedstocks to renewable feedstocks. The new tools and market demands foster also the transformation from traditional batch processes to continuous processes.