Five Attributes Necessary for Commercial Viability
of any Micro- or Nano-Catalyst immobilization Technology
- The catalytic particles are held 'fast' in place, and never become part of the reactant matrix
phase: they do NOT actually enter into the reactant solution, and thus never have to be removed in subsequent
expensive and elaborate unit operations (such as reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, or magnetic filtering). This means that
HENCI-facilitated nano- or micro- catalyzed processes can be validated to contain zero nano- or micro- particles in the
effluent. More importantly, it means that the new effective genre of nano- and micro-catalysts can finally be cost
effectively and safely deployed for large-scale commercial, municipal, industrial and remedial applications.
- Nearly 100% of the surface area of each catalytic particle is freely exposed to the reactant
matrix. This means that the reaction rates achievable are at least as good as those achievable in-situ (and preliminary
data suggest rates at least twice as great can be achieved!)
- The particles can be immobilized at Ultra High density. This means that small systems can offer very high
throughput: huge quantities of reactant matrix can be reacted / processed in a very short . When HENCI is used to
immobilize Zero-Valent Iron Fe/Pd nanoparticles from Golder & Associates, it results in over 3.7 million square feet of
available catalytic surface area per cubic foot of reactor volume, without significant pressure drop through the reactor, at
linear velocities in excess of 60 ft. per minute .
- The particles are immobilized within the HENCI reactor homogeneously: Any natural tendency for the
particles to agglomerate is overcome, and the particles are 'suspended' within the HENCI reactor in what is effectively an
evenly-spaced three-dimensional grid. There is no channelling' within a HENCI reactor - the flow is fully developed 'plug'
flow at superficial Reynolds numbers under 300!
- The Technology is readily scalable and configurable to any size many applications: Any combination
of required throughput and conversion can be addressed with HENCI custom or off-shelf modular systems