Description

A catalyst is a material that accelerates a chemical reaction without being consumed. It acts by lowering the activation energy of the reaction through active sites present on its surface, where reactant molecules adsorb, react, and then desorb.  Catalysts are essential in the oil, petrochemical, energy, and chemical industries, where they increase yields, improve process selectivity, and reduce energy consumption.

Catalyst performance properties

A comprehensive evaluation of a catalyst is based on several fundamental properties:

Activity (reaction rate): The ability of the catalyst to accelerate the transformation of reactants. It is measured by the conversion rate or the rate of product formation.
Selectivity: The ability to favor the formation of the desired product over side reactions.
Stability and durability: The ability to maintain performance over long operating times or over many reaction cycles.
Resistance to deactivation: Sensitivity to poisoning, sintering, fouling, or coke formation.
Regenerability: The ability to restore the initial activity through thermal or chemical treatments.
Intrinsic activity: The efficiency of each active site, independent of the total amount of catalyst.

Vinci Equipment dedicated to catalyst performance measurement

The equipment developed by Vinci Technologies enable the experimental characterization of all these properties under conditions representative of industrial processes. They notably include:

MCB – Micro Catalyst Bed Reactor System (3 cm³ of catalyst)
A laboratory micro-reactor designed for testing very small quantities of catalyst under controlled temperature and pressure conditions, allowing rapid screening and evaluation of catalytic activity.

CATATEST – Standard Catalyst Bed Reactor System (15 cm³ of catalyst)
A standard fixed-bed catalytic reactor used for routine catalyst performance testing, enabling accurate measurement of conversion, selectivity, and reaction kinetics.

CTV – Large Catalyst Bed Reactor System (150 cm³ of catalyst)
A larger-scale reactor that allows testing of greater catalyst volumes and operating conditions closer to industrial processes, improving scale-up reliability.

MRT – Multi Catalyst Bed Reactor System (×150 cm³ of catalyst)
A multi-reactor platform capable of testing several catalyst beds simultaneously, enabling comparative studies and higher-throughput catalyst development.

CDU- FCC Catalyst Deactivation Unit
A dedicated unit used to study catalyst deactivation mechanisms such as coking, poisoning, or thermal degradation under realistic refinery conditions.

MAT – MicroActivity Testing Unit
A standardized testing unit commonly used in fluid catalytic cracking research to evaluate catalyst activity and performance under controlled fixed-bed conditions.