Present State of the Theory of the Chromatographic Microreactor

Published information on the use of a pulse chromatographic microreactor in catalytic investigations is reviewed systematically. Theoretical analysis of the processes occurring in such a reactor showed the possibility of using transient pulse methods to determine the adsorption and desorption rate constants for starting materials and products during a catalytic process, to study the effect of longitudinal and internal diffusion, to reveal the principal and subsidiary paths of complicated catalytic processes, etc. From an analysis of published data it is concluded that chromatographic methods should be introduced more widely to solve complex kinetic problems in heterogeneous catalysis. A list of 90 references is included.