ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Operando neutron imaging of a working heterogeneous catalyst (IMAT)

Abstract: Over the last two years and four allocations of neutron imaging beamtime (RBs2220700, 2310426, 2410647 and 326165), a collaboration between the University of Glasgow, ISIS and Johnson Matthey have used neutron imaging to examine hydrogen adsorption/desorption phenomena and ethyne/ethene hydrogenation over supported Pd catalysts in conventional packed bed reactors (aluminium and stainless-steel). A forthcoming run will extend those studies to examine reaction within an innovative industrial reactor (RB2510353, September 2025). Via a process of progressive development, the applicants have added (i) operando and (ii) semi-quantitative analysis to the imaging capability. Our initial IMAT run (RB2220700) had intended to examine propyne hydrogenation, but the reaction system had to be changed to ethene due to reagent supply problems. The research team have now secured a new supplier of propyne and, therefore, this application seeks to examine the propyne propene propane hydrogenation system in our standard packed bed stainless-steel reactor under operando conditions. This measurement is novel and is designed to explore how hydrogen concentrations within the reactor can influence propene selectivity. To investigate a probable role for hydride species and a hydrocarbonaceous overlayer in facilitating catalytic turnover, this IMAT application is linked to TOSCA and MAPS applications. Overall, the application constitutes a bespoke exercise in reaction engineering.

Principal Investigator: Professor David Lennon
Experimenter: Professor Stewart Parker
Experimenter: Dr Winfried Kockelmann
Local Contact: Dr Sylvia Britto
Experimenter: Dr Hamish Cavaye
Experimenter: Dr Andrew York
Experimenter: Mr Muhammad Arifuddin Fitriady

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520319

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2520319

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Professor David Lennon et al; (2026): Operando neutron imaging of a working heterogeneous catalyst (IMAT), STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520319

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.