Say I'm working with a highly exothermic reaction such as the selective oxidation of ethylene and oxygen and I want to reduce hot spots in the reactor by : Taking the unit offline and adding a solid inert material to the catalyst bed(sizes of the available inert are not uniform and not the same size as the catalyst) What effect will this have on

a) downstream processing (separation of products and reactants) b) performance of the reaction system (conversion and selectivity, temperature and concentration profiles) c) operability and safety

Please do and I will like Thank you