Research progress of micro and nano scale gas-liquid mass transfer to intensify catalytic hydrogenation of oil products

Compared with the conventional hydrogenation process in trickle bed reactors, liquid-phase hydrogenation with low investment and energy consumption has attracted the attention in industrial and academic community. But how to further intensify the mass transfer rate at the hydrogen-oil interface to improve the efficiency of liquid-phase hydrogenation is still a challenge. In recent years, the gas-liquid mass transfer intensification by micro and nano bubbles or droplets has been rapidly developed, which is helpful for the catalytic hydrogenation of oil products. Taking micro and nano bubbles as an example, this paper firstly summarized the characteristics, and main generation methods of micro and nano bubbles. And the feasibility analysis of micro and nano scale gas-liquid mass transfer to intensify hydrogenation process was briefly described. Current research on the application of micro and nano scale gas-liquid mass transfer intensification in hydrogenation of oil products was reviewed. Finally, the challenges and future research directions of the application of micro and nano scale gas-liquid mass transfer intensification in hydrogenation of oil products were analyzed, including matching the mass transfer rate and intrinsic reaction rate at micro and nano scale, the flow of micro and nano bubbles inside reactor and the gas-liquid separation of the mixture containing micro and nano bubble. © 2024 Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd.. All rights reserved.