Fluidized bed catalytic membrane reactor

As a building block for simulating more complex and practical membrane reactors, various membrane reactor models with simple geometries available from the literature have been reviewed. Four types of shell-and-tube membrane reactor models are presented packed-bed catalytic membrane reactors (a special case of which is catalytic membrane reactors), fluidized-bed catalytic membrane reactors, catalytic non-permselecdve membrane reactors with an opposing reactants geometry and catalytic non-permselective membrane multiphase reactors. Both dense and porous inorganic membranes have been considered. 

CMRH catalytic membrane reactor high conversion FBCMR fluidized bed catalytic membrane reactor FBMR fluidized bed membrane reactor... 

Packed Bed Catalytic Membrane Reactor Fluidized Bed Membrane Reactor Fluidized Bed Catalytic Membrane Reactor Catalytic Non-permselective Membrane Reactor Supported Liquid-phase Catalytic Membrane Reactor-Separator... 

The search continues for better and more economical processes for the production of ethylene. Those processes include catalytic thermal cracking, methanol to ethylene, oxidative coupling of methane, advanced cracking technology, adiabatic cracking reactor, fluidized bed cracking, membrane reactor, oxydehy-drogenation, ethanol to ethylene, propylene disproportionation, and coal to ethylene. Much work is still needed before any such process can compete with current processes. 

Finally, possible causes for deactivation of catalytic membranes are described and severad aspects of regenerating catalytic membrane reactors are discussed. A variety of membrane reactor configurations are mentioned and some unique membrane reactor designs such as double spiral-plate or spiral-tube reactor, fuel cell unit, crossflow dualcompartment reactor, hollow-fiber reactor and fluidized-bed membrane reactor are reviewed. 

In Chapter 2 we discussed a number of studies with three-phase catalytic membrane reactors. In these reactors the catalyst is impregnated within the membrane, which serves as a contactor between the gas phase (B) and liquid phase reactants (A), and the catalyst that resides within the membrane pores. When gas/liquid reactions occur in conventional (packed, -trickle or fluidized-bed) multiphase catalytic reactors the solid catalyst is wetted by a liquid film as a result, the gas, before reaching the catalyst particle surface or pore, has to diffuse through the liquid layer, which acts as an additional mass transfer resistance between the gas and the solid. In the case of a catalytic membrane reactor, as shown schematically in Fig. 5.16, the active membrane pores are filled simultaneously with the liquid and gas reactants, ensuring an effective contact between the three phases (gas/ liquid, and catalyst). One of the earliest studies of this type of reactor was reported by Akyurtlu et al [5.58], who developed a semi-analytical model coupling analytical results with a numerical solution for this type of reactor. Harold and coworkers (Harold and Ng... 

Andres, M. B., Chen, Z., Grace, J. R., Elnashaie, S. S. E. H., Jim Lim, C., Rakib, M., et al. (2009). Comparison of fluidized bed flow regimes for steam methane reforming in membrane reactors a simulation study. Chemical Engineering Science, 64, 3598—3613. Ayturk, M. E., Kazantzis, N. K., Ma, Y. H. (2009). Modeling and performance assessment of Pd- and Pd/Au-based catalytic membrane reactors for hydrogen production. Energy Environmental Science, 2, 430—438. 

Membrane reactors are defined here based on their membrane function and catalytic activity in a structured way, predominantly following Sanchez and Tsotsis [2]. The acronym used to define the type of membrane reactor applied at the reactor level can be set up as shown in Figure 10.4. The membrane reactor is abbreviated as MR and is placed at the end of the acronym. Because the word membrane suggests that it is permselective, an N is included in the acronym in case it is nonpermselective. When the membrane is inherently catalytically active, or a thin catalytic film is deposited on top of the membrane, a C (catalytic) is included. When catalytic activity is present besides the membrane, additional letters can be included to indicate the appearance of the catalyst, for example, packed bed (PB) or fluidized bed (FB). In the case of an inert and nonpermselective... 

Opposiny-reactants mode. When immobilized with a catalyst or enzyme, the interconnected tortuous pores or the nearly straight pores of a symmetric inorganic membrane provides a relatively well controlled catalytic zone or path for the reactants in comparison with the pellets or beads in a fixed or fluidized bed of catalyst particles. This unique characteristic of a symmetric membrane, in principle, allows a novel reactor to be realized provided the reaction is sufficiently fast. The concept applies to both equilibrium and irreversible reactions and does not utilize the membrane as a separator. Consider a reaction involving two reactants, A and B ... 

Where and how the catalyst is placed in the membrane reactor can have significant impact not only on the reaction conversion but also in some cases, the yield or selectivity. There are three primary modes of placing the catalyst (1) A bed of catalyst particles or pellets in a packed or fluidized state is physically separated but confined by the membrane as part of the reactor wall (2) The catalyst in e form of particles or monolithic layers is attached to the membrane surface or inside the membrane pores and (3) The membrane is inherently catalytic. Membranes operated in the first mode are sometimes referred to as the (catalytically) passive membranes. The other two modes of operation are associated with the so called (catalytically) active membranes. In most of the inorganic membrane reactor studies, it is assumed that the catalyst is distributed uniformly inside the catalyst pellets or membrane pores. As will be pointed out later, this assumption may lead to erroneous results. 

A fixed-bed reactor often suffers from a substantially small effectiveness factor (e.g., 10 to 10 for a fixed-bed steam reformer according to Soliman et al. [1988]) due to severe diffusional limitations unless very small particles are used. The associated high pressure drop with the use of small particles can be prohibitive. A feasible alternative is to employ a fluidized bed of catalyst powders. The effectiveness factor in the fluidized bed configuration approaches unity. The fluidization system also provides a thermally stable operation without localized hot spots. The large solid (catalyst) surface area for gas contact promotes effective catalytic reactions. For certain reactions such as ethylbenzene dehydrogenation, however, a fluidized bed operation may not be superior to a fixed bed operation. To further improve the efficiency and compactness of a fluidized-bed reactor, a permselective membrane has been introduced by Adris et al. [1991] for steam reforming of methane and Abdalla and Elnashaie [1995] for catalytic dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene. 

The above discussion primarily applies to membrane reactors where heat needs to be supplied to or removed from the catalytic zone which consists of a packed bed of catalysts in the tube core or a catalytic membrane itself. Transfer of the heat of reactions can be easier when the catalytic zone lies outside the membrane tubes. This is the case when, for example, a packed bed of catalysts is placed on the shell side of a shcll-and-tubc type membrane reactor. In a fluidized-bcd membrane reactor [Adris et al., 1991 Aldris et al., 1994], the catalytic zone is in the emulsion phase (solids-containing) of the... 

The flow directions (e.g., co-currcni, counter-current and flow-through) and flow patterns (e.g., plug flow, perfect mixing and fluidized bed) of feed, permeate and retentate streams in a membrane reactor can significantly affect the reaction conversion, yield and selectivity of the reaction involved in different ways. These variables have been widely investigated for both dense and porous membranes used to carry out various isothermal and non-isothermal catalytic reactions, particularly dehydrogenation and hydrogenation reactions. 

Abashar, M. (2004). Coupling of steam and dry reforming of methane in catalytic fluidized bed membrane reactors, hit. ]. Hydrogen Energy 29, 799-808. 

Based on matenal considerations, membrane reactors can be classified into (1) organic-membrane reactors, and (2) inorgamc-membrane reactors, with the latter class subdivided into dense (metals) membrane reactors and porous-membrane reactors Based on membrane type and mode of operation, Tsotsis et al. [15] classified membrane reactors as shown in Table 3. A CMR is a reactor whose permselective membrane is the catalytic type or has a catalyst deposited in or on it. A CNMR contains a catalytic membrane that reactants penetrate from both sides. PBMR and FBMR contain a permselective membrane that is not catalytic the catalyst is present in the form of a packed or a fluidized bed PBCMR and FBCMR differ from the foregoing reactors in that membranes are catalytic. 

Figure 5 Coupling catalysts and inorganic membranes, (a) Fluidized-bed IMR (b) packed-bed IMR (c) catalyst-deposited membrane reactor (d) catalytically active IMR.

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