Hydrogen separation continued oxidation

Membrane reactors offer an inherent ability to combine reaction, product concentration, and separation in a single unit operation and are especially suited for reactions such as water gas shift reaction with conversions limited by the thermodynamic equilibrium of the reaction. The use of a membrane reactor for the continuous separation of hydrogen from the reformate allows the reformer to be mn at lower temperatures and, at the same time, provides process intensification by eliminating the shift reactors, PreOx (preferential oxidation) reactor and hydrogen separator. 

Skeletal catalysts are usually employed in slurry-phase reactors or fixed-bed reactors. Hydrogenation of cottonseed oil, oxidative dehydrogenation of alcohols, and several other reactions are performed in sluny phase, where the catalysts are charged into the liquid and optionally stirred (often by action of the gases involved) to achieve intimate mixing. Fixed-bed designs suit methanol synthesis from syngas and catalysis of the water gas shift reaction, and are usually preferred because they obviate the need to separate product from catalyst and are simple in terms of a continuous process. 

To continue the process, the fatty methyl esters are phase-separated from the glycerin (or glycerol—same thing, just to keep you on your toes), washed with water to remove any trace amounts of methanol and glycerin and dried. In a second reaction, the methyl esters are hydrogenated to get the fatty alcohols (in the southeast corner of Figure 15—2). The catalyst is usually a mixture of cupric chromite and cupric oxide in the form of a finely divided powder. Conversion of the triglycerides is about 95%. 

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