A Laser Catalysis Apparatus

An apparatus has been created at the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (BIC SB RAS), to study the photochemical and thermal effects of infrared laser radiation on a two-phase gas–dust medium consisting of mixtures of light hydrocarbons and catalytically active nanoparticles. The apparatus includes reactors with gas flows from 10 to 1000 L/h and laser-radiation intensity from 10 to 10 5 W/cm 2 , CO 2 lasers, equipment for analyzing reaction products and other diagnostic equipment, as well as a section for laser synthesis of oxide nanopowders with a capacity of up to 1.5 g/h. One of the CO 2 lasers generates cw radiation with a power of up to 120 W, while the other is a pulsed–periodic laser with a maximum average power of 450 W. The developed laser-irradiated reactors make it possible to study laminar, vortex, and transient gas flows with chemical reactions. Thermocouples with molybdenum and copper electrodes were used to measure the gas temperature in the range of up to 1100°C in the laser radiation field of up to 10 3 W/cm 2 . The effect of laser radiation on a chemically active medium is studied jointly with computational experiments at the cluster of the BIC SB RAS and the Siberian Supercomputer Center (SSCC ICMMG SB RAS).