The proposed research project is aimed at developing a nonintrusive technique to measure the cross sectional average catalyst temperature at each axial position of an operating packed bed reactor. The PI's ultimate goal is to develop a method to measure the catalyst temperature at each point in a reactor and thus develop an experimentally validated heterogeneous reactor model. The overall objective of catalytic reactor model development is reliable design. To reliably predict performance over a range of operating conditions, the model must predict the correct temperature and concentrations at each point in the reactor. More precisely, the model needs to predict the catalyst phase temperature and reactant concentrations in the catalyst phase throughout the bed. The PI began work on his magnetic method to measure catalyst temperature in a packed bed under an initiation grant. In the proposed work he will move the bed into an AC permeameter sensing coil, determine the incremental voltage due to each axial position, and thus calculate the average axial temperature. Measurement of radial and/or intraparticle temperature gradients will not be attempted at this time. When applicable to a given catalyst/reaction system, the method could be used directly in kinetic and transport parameter estimation, reactor control and reactor performance evaluation.
