The development of in situ and operando neutron imaging for reaction engineering

Neutron beams will peer inside industrial chemical reactors to track hydrogen atoms as they move through catalyst beds during fuel production. This matters because hydrogenation reactions—where hydrogen is added to molecules—are central to making everything from margarine to sustainable aviation fuel. But engineers currently design these reactors largely by guesswork, unable to see exactly where hydrogen accumulates or gets blocked inside the catalyst-packed tubes. The project uses the IMAT neutron imaging facility to watch these reactions happen in real time, inside working reactors, rather than studying them in simplified laboratory conditions. If successful, the work could transform how engineers design reactors for producing sustainable aviation fuel and other hydrogenation products. Instead of building and testing physical prototypes, they could use direct observations of hydrogen behaviour to optimise reactor geometry, catalyst packing, and operating conditions. This would cut development costs and accelerate the transition to greener aviation fuels. The project also includes neutron spectroscopy studies to connect what happens at the molecular scale—how hydrogen binds to catalyst surfaces—with how it flows through full-sized industrial reactors. This bridges a gap between fundamental surface chemistry and practical engineering.