Methods for forming honeycomb minireactors and systems

#The present invention relates generally to honeycomb or extruded-body based reactors, more specifically to systems and methods for maximizing the utility and minimizing the cost of honeycomb reactors for a wide range of heat exchange and other performance requirements.

#According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of forming a honeycomb reactor or reactor component is disclosed, including the steps of providing a honeycomb structure having cells divided by cell walls, providing and array of cutting tools arrayed in a pattern so as to be able to simultaneously align with a first plurality of the cell walls at a first end of the structure, and cutting the walls of the first plurality with the array of cutting tools, reducing the height of the cell walls of the first plurality. Other aspects of the invention include reactors and/or systems formed of such reactors or reactor components and methods of use, including standardized reactor or reactor component systems, and standardized reactor or reactor component engineering or design.

#FIG. 1 is a plan view of reactor or reactor component comprising a honeycomb body showing a path of a fluid passage, taken in a plane perpendicular to the common direction of the cells.

#FIGS. 2 and 2A are side elevation views of the reactor or reactor component of FIG. 1, showing path details in a plane parallel to the common direction of the cells, of the fluid passage of FIG. 1 according to two different embodiments thereof.

#FIGS. 3, 4, and 4A are is a cross-sectional views of cells closed on one or both ends of a honeycomb body, showing various methods useful in the context of the present invention for interconnection between cells.

#FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a type of reactor or reactor component 12 with which the present invention is concerned. FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the reactor or reactor component 12, and FIG. 2A shows perspective view of an alternative embodiment.

#The reactor or reactor component 12 comprises a honeycomb body 20. The body 20 has cells 23 extending in parallel in a common direction from a first end 32 of the body to a second end 34, with the cells 23 seen end-on in FIG. 1, divided by walls 82. The cells 23 include a first plurality of cells 22 open at both ends of the body and a second plurality of cells 24 closed at one or both ends of the body, such as, in this example, by one or more plugs 26 or by a more or less continuous plugging material 26 disposed at or near the end of the body and optionally partly within the cells of the second plurality of cells 24. The second plurality of cells 24 (the closed cells) contain a passage 28 extending through the body 20 across the cells 24. The passage 28 may follow a serpentine path 29 up and down along the common direction of the cells 23, in the general direction shown in FIG. 2, extending laterally perpendicular to the cells 23 only at or near the ends 32, 34 of the body 20, where walls between the cells 24 are shortened to allow fluid communication between the cells 24.

#In an alternative embodiment of the passage 28 or path 29, the passage need not follow a serpentine path back and forth along the common direction, but follows instead a wide, parallel path across the cells 24 whose walls have been removed completely or in major part, as suggested by the path 29 of FIG. 2A. Further variations may be used, such as passage paths having lower-frequency serpentines, for example. Example cross-sections of such embodiments are given in FIGS. 3 and 4. If the passage 28 or path 29 is serpentine in the direction shown in FIG. 2, the passage 28 or path 29 may follow a single cell up and down in the common direction along the cells 24, as shown in FIG. 3. Alternatively, the passage 28 or path 29 may follow multiple successive respective groups of two or more cells in parallel, in the common direction along the cells 24, as shown in FIG. 4, resulting in a lower frequency serpentine path 29. FIG. 4A shows an embodiment in which several walls have been removed in major part, resulting in the passage 28 following a wide parallel path 29 across the cells 24, corresponding to FIG. 2A.