Electrochemical packed-bed membrane reactors

Chalakov, L., Rihko-Struckmann, L. K., Munder, B., Sundmacher, K. (2(X)9). Oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane in an electrochemical packed-bed membrane reactor model and experimental validation. Chemical Engineering Journal, 145(3), 385—392. 

Figure 8 (Top) Electrochemical flow cell for the oxidation of phenol and aniline (a) Pb anode feeder (b) packed bed of 1-mm lead pellets (c) stainless steel cathode plate (d) Nation membrane (e) stainless steel screen (f) Luggin capillary (g) glass beads (h) gasket (i) reactor inlet (j) reactor outlet. (Bottom) Schematic of apparatus (a) electrochemical reactor (b) peristaltic pump (c) water bath (d) heater (e) anolyte reservoir (t) gas sparging tube (g) C02 adsorbers. (From Ref. 39.)... 

Fig. 6. An electrochemical reactor used for aniline oxidation on a lead dioxide packed-bed anode (A) lead anode (B) 1 mm lead pellets (C) stainless steel cathode (D) Na-fion 427 membrane (E) stainless steel retaining screen (F) glass beads (G) gasket (H) inlet (I) outlet (J) cathode gas vent. (Adapted from (27]).

A second obvious area of application is in continuous flow analysis or flow injection analysis systems, in which the immobilized molecules form reactors that can be readily inserted and replaced in a flow analysis manifold. The physical form of the enzymes varies widely packed-bed reactors are often used, but open-tube wall reactors and membrane reactors have also been investigated. A principal advantage of all such systems is that they can use all the optical or electrochemical detectors routinely used in flow analysis. However, the problems of producing stable and robust immobilized enzyme reactors have proved more intractable than many researchers hoped, and other advances (e.g.. the use of more sensitive detectors, improved availability of low-cost soluble enzymes) have minimized the advantages of using solid phase enzymes. 

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