Permeable composite monolith

The application of permeable composite monolith membranes for the FT synthesis has been tested [122]. An overview of concepts associated with this reactor type has been presented (Figure 12.25) [123]. Novel uses of this concept have been advanced, and some experimental results have demonstrated the ability to operate at high CO conversion with metal FT catalysts by removal of the water produced during the synthesis [ 124] and the encapsulation of an FT catalyst by a zeolite membrane layer to effect upgrading reactions in the FT reactor [125]. The potential of this technique merits further studies to evaluate the ability to scale to a commercial level. 

The performance of the molecularly imprinted monolith in terms of molecular recognition and flow-through properties depends on several factors, especially the density and the porosity of the polymer. In order to obtain a monolith with high selectivity and high permeability, some preparation conditions must be optimised, in particular the composition of the prepolymerisation mixture including the amount of template, the type and amount of functional monomer, crosslinker, porogenic solvent and the initiator, and the polymerisation conditions such as initiation process and polymerisation time. 

The most general case of catalyst-membrane systems are systems containing a conventional granulated catalyst and a membrane catalyst. Two varieties of such systems are possible (1) a pellet catalyst with a monolithic membrane or (2) a pellet catalyst with a porous (sometimes composite) membrane. The inorganic membrane reactors with or without selective permeability are discussed in Chapter 17 of this book. Examples of applications of systems of selective metal-containing membrane and granulated catalyst are presented in Table 5. 

Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) offer a choice of other carbon forms for VOC removal. As discussed earlier, the narrow diameter of the fibers provides ready access of adsorptive species to the adsorbent surface. The incorporation of ACF into permeable forms such as felt, paper, and rigid monoliths helps to surmount the disadvantages of using loose fibers. Rigid ACF composites have been prepared at the University of Kentucky and examined for their potential for the removal of low concentrations of VOCs [31]. 

An obvious solution to the surface area limitation is to distribute the selected metal over a high surface area support. However, as metal is consumed in the process, a conventional metal support system would require frequent replacement. A more attractive proposition is offered by the availability of permeable monolithic carbon fiber composites, which were discussed earlier in this chapter. The ability to make these composites electrically conducting allows metals to be... 

Although no commercial examples exist currently in the gas separation field, thin film composite membranes such as those pioneered by Cadotte and co-workers (10) may ultimately permit the use of novel materials with unique transport properties supported on standard porous membranes. Therefore, the focus in this paper will be on suggesting a basis for understanding differences in the permeability and selectivity properties of glassy polymers. Presumably, if such materials prove to be difficult to fabricate into conventional monolithic asymmetric structures, they could be produced in a composite form. Even if thin film composite structures are used, however, the chemical resistance of the material remains an important consideration. For this reason, a brief discussion of this topic will be offered. 

Orientation of hllers in directions other than perpendicular to the permeant how signihcantly reduces the effect of aspect ratio. When the hller sheets are aligned perfectly parallel to the direction of permeation, similar to the parallel model, the permeability of the composite system nearly approaches that of a monolithic polymer, that is, the barrier improvement is nearly zero. Thus, for a practical system, considering the possible orientation of hllers in every direction, the actual tortuosity will be less than that obtained by Eqn (8.12). To account for such a random orientation of the GO hller sheets, an order parameter S is dehned as expressed by Eqn (8.13) (Bhardwaj, 2001). 

---