Measuring enthalpy of fast exothermal reaction with micro‐reactor‐based capillary calorimeter

Abstract This work presents a new micro‐reactor‐based capillary calorimeter for the enthalpy measurement of fast exothermal reactions. The new calorimeter was operated in the continuous way and the reaction enthalpy can be easily measured with the online temperatures from detached sensor chips. A standard reaction system and an industrial reaction system were selected to test this new calorimeter with homogeneous and heterogeneous reaction processes. The measurement was taken place at nearly adiabatic situations and the reaction enthalpy was calculated from the rising of temperature. High accuracy and good repeatability were obtained from this new calorimeter with relative experimental errors less than 3.5% and 2.4%, respectively. The temperature response was quick in this new calorimeter too, which was benefit to the low cost of reactive component. The fast and accurate measurement was contributed to the nice mixing performance and strict plug flowing in the calorimeter. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010