Preparation of CuCl catalyst through ceramic membrane reactor

A direct sediment reactor was coupled with a ceramic membrane for the preparation of high-activity CuCl particles with spherical structure. The effects of the membrane pore size, types of stabilizer, concentration of Cu²⁺ as well as the dispersed phase flow rate on the size and uniformity of the particles were investigated. The catalytic properties of these CuCl particles were explored via Rochow reaction. The results showed that the average particle size of CuCl decreased with the decrease of membrane pore size. The morphology of the particles changed from triangular structure to spherical when adding polyvinylpyrrolidine(PVP) to the continuous and dispersion phase. The uniform spherical CuCl particles, with the average size of 5.1 μm, were obtained under the conditions that the dispersed phase flow rate of Na₂SO₃ with a ceramic membrane of 0.05 μm pore size was 40 ml·min^-1, the concentration of Cu²⁺ was 0.1 mol·L^-1 and the concentration of PVP was 1 μg·ml^-1. The catalytic performance of the uniform spherical CuCl particles, with the dimethyldichlorosilane selectivity of 94% and the Si conversion of 38%, is much better than those of the commercial CuCl particles. Regular spherical particles have a higher selectivity of M2 compared to the triangular particles.