High throughput screening in monolith reactors for total oxidation reactions Original Research Article

We present here a powerful tool for high throughput screening of heterogeneous catalysts, successfully developed in our laboratory with the application focus on common monoliths as a special type of microreactors. It could be shown that it is possible to prepare in a reproducible manner catalytically active coatings on the wall of single channels of the monoliths by a channel-by-channel procedure enabling the application of these multichannel reactors, coupled with mass spectrometry or gas chromatography, for the fast screening of heterogeneous catalysts. Because time and spatially resolved sampling is needed and complex gaseous mixtures have to be analyzed, a special 3D positioning system, which allows measurements at high temperatures, is needed as the central element of the equipment. The high efficiency and reliability of the channel-by-channel preparation as well as the developed screening method is demonstrated for the total oxidation of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide in the presence of further components like O2, H2O, CO2, NO, SO2 and inert gas over precious metal catalysts.