UCLA chemists for the first time have employed magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) — a technique normally reserved for medical clinicians
peering inside the human body — to better measure the temperature of
gases inside a catalytic reactor.
The research, a major step toward bridging the gap between
laboratory studies and industrial catalysis, could help improve the
design and environmental impact of catalytic reactors, including tiny
"lab-on-a-chip" devices, which are used in the manufacture of
pharmaceuticals and other chemical products.
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| A continuous-flow micro-reactor packed with metal-organic framework catalyst promotes the conversion of propylene into propane. UCLA researchers measured the heat generated in the reaction without perturbing the flow by using an MRI technique. Thermometry is achieved by probing motional averaging effects in a magnetic-field gradient. (Credit: UCLA/Nanette Jarenwattananon, Yuebiao Zhang, Louis Bouchard) |
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