Abstract This paper proposes a novel structured foam microreactor with controllable gas and liquid flow paths; in this microreactor, the liquid phase flows through a structured foam bed, and the gas phase flows through gas paths on both sides of the foam bed. A hydrodynamics analysis indicated that the proposed design ensured not only better residence time distribution and a longer residence time, but also uniform phase distribution and a stable gas–liquid interface. Accordingly, inefficient catalysts utilization and mass transport caused by the gas channeling in conventional foam-based microreactors was avoided. The results showed that the newly-developed microreactor exhibited higher nitrobenzene conversion because of the aforementioned merits. This study not only serves as a guideline for the optimization of the proposed microreactor, but also provides a new avenue for the design of multiphase catalytic reactors.

中文翻译：

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具有可控气体和液体流动路径的新型结构泡沫微反应器：流体动力学和硝基苯转化

摘要 本文提出了一种气液流路可控的新型结构化泡沫微反应器；在该微反应器中，液相流经结构化泡沫床，气相流经泡沫床两侧的气路。流体动力学分析表明，所提出的设计不仅确保了更好的停留时间分布和更长的停留时间，而且确保了均匀的相分布和稳定的气液界面。因此，避免了由传统泡沫基微反应器中的气体沟道引起的低效催化剂利用和传质。结果表明，由于上述优点，新开发的微反应器具有较高的硝基苯转化率。这项研究不仅可以作为优化所提出的微反应器的指南，