Membrane adsorption applications, chromatographic

Multifunctional reactors. Apart from the applications exclusively in the reaction engineering field, fixed beds can also be found integrated in apparatus with separation purposes. Two major classes can be identified membrane [16, 17] and chromatographic (adsorptive) reactors [18]. In both cases, a familiar configuration involves a packed bed with a permeable, selective wall and/or packed with a catalyst/ adsorbent. The latter is found in simulated moving bed reactors [19, 20], which can be seen as an arrangement of several of these beds. The overall effect from the coexistence of reaction and separation functionalities is the increase of conversion in equilibrium-limited systems, which are shifted due to the simultaneous separation of the products. 

---