Hydrogen separation continued with oxidative

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. 

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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