Magnetic resonance in reaction engineering: beyond spectroscopy

Magnetic resonance (MR), in the form of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, is well established in characterising catalysts and studying relatively small catalytic samples in situ. However, MR-based measurements of molecular adsorption and diffusion, along with MR micro-imaging and flow mapping offer an additional toolkit of methods to study both the catalyst and its working environment. Focussing on recent advances in the implementation of MR methods in reaction engineering we consider MR measurements yielding information at two quite different length-scales: first, the ability of MR relaxometry and diffusometry to study molecular adsorption and diffusion processes within the pore space of heterogeneous catalysts; second, the use of micro-imaging and MR flow imaging to critically evaluate the closure relationships and boundary conditions used in numerical simulations of catalytic reactor operation.