Modelling of Mass Transfer Resistances in Non-uniformly Washcoated Monolith Reactors

Journal article, 2021

There are various methodologies to account for mass transfer within non-uniformly distributed washcoats in monolith reactors in 1D models (axially). However, 1+1D models (axially/radially) fail to capture local variations in mass transfer from different coating thicknesses or cracks. In this paper, we present a novel way to account for local material properties in a washcoated monolith reactor. The suggested method uses an existing 1+1D modelling framework and sectionalizes the washcoat into multiple tangential segments which are solved independently. Intelligent gravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy are used in combination to calculate local effective diffusivity as an input for each simulation. The new model is compared to the original 1+1D model using NO light-off simulations. The new model predicted increased conversion at elevated temperatures, where mass transfer limitations are present, due to the higher porosity in the corners. The simulation time for each model was similar due to the parallelizable nature of the new model.