The application of monolithic catalysts to automotive emission control has frequently been complicated by unexplained thermal degradation phenomena. This paper reports experimental and theoretical studies aimed at the understanding of how heat is generated and distributed in catalytic monoliths during an exothermal, mass transfer limited reaction. Theoretical considerations indicate that under certain operating conditions the steady state solid catalyst temperature can exceed the adiabatic reaction temperature. It is also shown that the catalyst overtemperature is influenced by the nature of the reactive species and by the geometry of the catalyst. These predictions have been verified by experiments in a novel tubular reactor.
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L. Louis Hegedus (1975) studied this question.