Flow-through catalytic membrane reactors design

Takeuchi et al. 7 reported a membrane reactor as a reaction system that provides higher productivity and lower separation cost in chemical reaction processes. In this paper, packed bed catalytic membrane reactor with palladium membrane for SMR reaction has been discussed. The numerical model consists of a full set of partial differential equations derived from conservation of mass, momentum, heat, and chemical species, respectively, with chemical kinetics and appropriate boundary conditions for the problem. The solution of this system was obtained by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). To perform CFD calculations, a commercial solver FLUENT has been used, and the selective permeation through the membrane has been modeled by user-defined functions. The CFD simulation results exhibited the flow distribution in the reactor by inserting a membrane protection tube, in addition to the temperature and concentration distribution in the axial and radial directions in the reactor, as reported in the membrane reactor numerical simulation. On the basis of the simulation results, effects of the flow distribution, concentration polarization, and mass transfer in the packed bed have been evaluated to design a membrane reactor system. 

A particular case of the contact mode sketched in Fig. 4.3f is represented by the use of catalytic dense polymeric membranes working in cross-flow mode on the liquid feed side and in pervaporation mode through the membrane (Bengston et al, 2002). This particular class will be not discussed further, since Chapter 1 of Handbook of membrane reactors Volume 1 Fundamental materials science, design and optimisation is dedicated to polymeric membrane reactors.. 

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