Sorption enhanced catalytic CF₄ hydrolysis with a three-stage catalyst-adsorbent reactor

In this study, we developed a three-stage catalyst-adsorbent reactor for the catalytic hydrolysis of CF₄. Each stage is composed of a catalyst bed followed by an adsorbent bed using Ca(OH)₂ to remove HF. The three stages are connected in series to enhance the hydrolysis of CF₄ and eliminate a scrubber to dissolve HF in water at the same time. With a 10 wt-% Ce/Al₂O₃ catalyst prepared by the incipient wetness method using boehmite and a granular calcium hydroxide as an adsorbent, the CF₄ conversion in our proposed reactor was 7%–23% higher than that in a conventional single-bed catalytic reactor in the temperature range of 923–1023 K. In addition, experimental and numerical simulation (Aspen HYSYS^®) results showed a reasonable trend of increased CF₄ conversion with the adsorbent added and these results can be used as a useful design guideline for our newly proposed multistage reactor system. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]