Membrane reactor function and arrangement

The incorporation of a membrane into a reactor unit operation can serve a myriad of important functions including (Sirkar et al., 1999)  

Separation of a reactant from a mixed stream for introduction into the reactor. 

The main building block of a membrane reactor system is the module, which as a unit operation bears more resemblance to a membrane unit than to a traditional reactor. For commercial apphcations, it is desirable to fabricate membranes into a modular form that maximizes both productivity and selectivity. The most common commercial membrane geometries are flat sheet and tubular, and currently there are five module types namely, plate-and-frame and spiral-wound modules, based on flat membranes, and tubular, capillary and hollow-fibre modules, based on tubular membrane geometries. The module types of most relevance to siUca membrane modules and membrane reactors are the plate-and-frame and tubular types. The inflexibility of silica membranes prevents them from being used in a spiral-wound set-up and the technology to produce capillary and hoUow-fibre membrane geometries has not been adequately explored for sihca membranes. Plate-and-frame modules are easily constructed by 

SLPCMRS Supported liquid-phase catalytic membrane reactor-separator 

PFR (PBR, FBR) Plug flow reactor (packed bed reactor, fixed bed reactor) 

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