Electrolysis flow reactors based on the filter-press architecture of redox flow batteries have proven to be effective and scalable toward the production of commercially relevant, pharmaceutical quantities of anilines (>500 kg/year) from halogen-, hydroxyl-, and carbonyl-substituted nitroarenes. Turbulent flow through the carbon felts on which the catalysts were supported facilitated scaling toward production levels because it conferred on the reactors scale-independent, plug flow-like residence time distributions and high mass transfer coefficients. Equipping the cells with microreference electrodes made it possible to transfer reaction conditions first developed in batch systems to the continuous flow reactors. The catalysts prepared by incipient wetness impregnation of metal salts into lightly oxidized carbon felt supports were readily generalizable.
Revised: November 5, 2019 |
Published: August 23, 2019