Mr Fernando Abegão
PhD Student
| Position | Alumni |
|---|---|
| College | Wolfson |
| Qualifications/honours | Licenciatura in Chemical Engineering (2006), University of Coimbra, Portugal |
| Address | Magnetic Resonance Research Centre Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology c/o Cavendish Stores JJ Thomson Avenue Cambridge CB3 0HE |
| fjra2@cam.ac.uk | |
| Telephone | +44 (0)1223 (7)61628 |
| Research group | Magnetic Resonance, Catalysis |
| Research project title | MRI studies of unsteady state catalytic reactor operation |
| Supervisor | Prof Gladden |
| Advisor | Dr Mantle |
Research description
Trickle bed reactors (TBR) consist of a packed bed of catalyst particles through which a gas and a liquid stream flow, most commonly, downwards. TBRs are used in many important industrial applications, including: hydrotreatment, hydrogenation and oxidation reactions in the petrochemical, chemical and pharmaceutical industries and in waste water treatment. TBRs can be operated in different hydrodynamic regimes – trickle and pulsing flow are the most commonly used. Non-invasive techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have given an insight into the mechanisms present in trickle beds, e.g. trickle-to-pulse flow transition, flow and structure relationships. In this project, MRI techniques are being used to generate the first quantitative measurements of temperature and chemical composition in trickle-bed reactors. We expect that with these novel measurement techniques it will be possible to understand important heat and mass transfer phenomena and their interaction with hydrodynamics and chemical reaction. This will allow us to produce guidelines for design of equipment and operation cycles, to study thermal effects and hot-spot formation and to understand periodic operation.
Research keywords
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Catalysis, Trickle-Bed Reactors, Periodic operation, Hot-SpotsKey publications
Gladden, L F, Abegao, F J R, Dunckley, C P, Holland, D J, Sankey, M H and Sederman, A J (2010) MRI: Operando measurements of temperature, hydrodynamics and local reaction rate in a heterogenous reactor, Catalysis Today, 155 (3-4) 157-163. 
doi:10.1016/j.cattod.2009.10.012