Hardware and software techniques have been developed to study water gas shift catalysts over a temperature range of 150°C to 400°C, a pressure range of 0 atmospheres gauge to 30 atmospheres gauge, and a space velocity range of 600 hr⁻¹ to 60,000 hr⁻¹ . The hardware consists of a 5-foot long 3/16 inch-I.D. stainless steel temperature controlled jacketed reactor over which temperatures can be maintained to within ± 2°C at 250°C and to within ± 4 °C at 500°C. The effluent from the reactor is sampled at 150°C and analyzed by gas chromatography for carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water, and other low molecular weight gaseous components. A computer program converts the conversion data to plots of - ln{(X_CO - X^eq_CO) / (X^O_CO - X^eq_CO) versus the reciprocal flow rate. The slopes at low values of 1/F are then divided by the weight of catalyst, and the quantity ln (kV/W) plotted against the reciprocal temperature to determine activation energies. Particle sizes studied were 20/60 mesh.

Using the above reactor system, a sulfur-tolerant water gas shift catalyst was studied using a feed gas composition of 49% CO/49% H₂/2% COS. The composition of the catalyst was varied and an attempt was made to determine whether there were any "breaks" in the activation energy plots.

Two types of breaks were observed which we tentatively ascribe to (a) a phase change, perhaps a melting point, at low temperatures ranging between 175°C and 350°C, and (b) a change to diffusion controlled reaction at higher temperatures in the region of 350°C to 400°C.

We also report preliminary studies on a resistance drop technique for measuring melting points of molten electrolytes as well as a digital electronic interface between an Autolab 6300-02 digital integrator and a PDP 8/E minicomputer.