Application of water vapor and hydrogen-permselective membranes in an industrial fixed-bed reactor for large scale methanol production

Coupling reaction and separation in a membrane reactor improves the reactor efficiency and reduces purification cost in the next stages. In this work a novel reactor consisting two membrane layers has been proposed for simultaneous hydrogen permeation to reaction zone and water vapor removal from reaction zone in the methanol synthesis reactor. In this configuration conventional methanol reactor is supported by a Pd/Ag membrane layer for hydrogen permeation and alumina-silica composite membrane layer for water vapor removal from reaction zone. In this reactor syngas is fed to the reaction zone that is surrounded with hydrogen-permselective membrane tube. The water vapor-permselective membrane tube is placed in the reaction zone. A steady state heterogeneous one-dimensional mathematical model is developed for simulation of the proposed reactor. To verify the accuracy of the model, simulation results of the conventional reactor is compared with the available plant data. The membrane fixed bed reactor benefits are higher methanol production rate, higher quality of outlet product and consequently lower cost in product purification stage. This configuration has enhanced the methanol yield by 10.02% compared with industrial reactor. Experimental proof-of-concept is needed to establish the safe operation of the proposed configuration.     

沸石膜反应器苯脱氢反应性能

采用管式沸石膜反应器,研究了乙苯脱氢反应生成苯乙烯的性能。考察了不同渗透分离性能的沸石膜对乙苯脱氢反应的影响和不同沸石膜反应器上乙苯脱氢反应的规律。结果表明,与固定床操作条件下相比,沸石膜反应器乙苯转化率可提高近10％－16％,苯乙烯选择性可提高3％－5％。渗透分离性能是决定沸石膜提高脱氢反应性能的最重要因素,H2渗透量越大、H2／C3H8分离系数越高,对反应越有利。渗透分离性能相近但类型不同的沸石膜对乙苯脱氢反应性能有差异,其中Fe-ZSM-5沸石膜反应性能较好,这是杂原子Fe进入沸石骨架后引起的。反应后膜的渗透分离性能略有变化。     

Optimal design of an autothermal membrane reactor coupling the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene with the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline

Coupling the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene with the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline in a catalytic fixed bed membrane reactor has the potential for significantly improving both processes (Abo-Ghander et al., 2008. Modeling of a novel membrane reactor to integrate dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene with hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline. Chemical Engineering Science, 63 (7), 1817–1826). In a continuing effort to realize this potential, an optimal design is sought for a co-current coupled flow, catalytic membrane reactor configuration. To achieve this objective, two conflicting objective functions, namely: the yield of styrene on the dehydrogenation side and the conversion of nitrobenzene on the hydrogenation side, are considered. The total number of the decision variables considered in the optimization problem is 12, representing a set of operating and dimensional parameters. The problem is solved numerically by two deterministic multi-objective optimization approaches: the normalized normal constraint method and the normal boundary intersection method. It was found that the integrated reactor system can be operated to produce a maximum styrene yield of 97% when production of styrene is emphasized and, on the other hand, up to 80% of nitrobenzene conversion when nitrobenzene conversion is concentrated on. The resulting sets of Pareto optimal solutions obtained by both techniques are shown to be identical. Qualitative explanations are provided for the effect of the decision variables on both objectives.     

Modeling of a novel membrane reactor to integrate dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene with hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline

The catalytic dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene is coupled with the catalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline in a simulated integrated reactor formed of two fixed beds separated by a hydrogen-selective membrane, where both hydrogen and heat are transferred across the surface of membrane tubes. A pseudo-homogeneous model of the two fixed beds predicts the performance of this novel configuration first proposed by Moustafa and Elnashaie [Simultaneous production of styrene and cyclohexane in an integrated membrane reactor. Journal of Membrane Science 178 (1), 171-184]. Both co-current and counter-current operating modes are investigated and the simulation results are compared with corresponding predictions for an industrial adiabatic fixed bed reactor operated at the same feed conditions. The conversion of ethylbenzene and the yield of styrene in the membrane reactor are predicted to exceed by a wide margin those in the industrial adiabatic fixed bed reactor. Aniline is also produced as an additional valuable product in a favorable manner, and autothermality is achieved within the reactor. The results suggest that coupling of these reactions could be feasible and beneficial. Experimental proof-of-concept is needed to establish the validity and safe operation of the novel reactor.     

Modeling and simulation of an integrated multi-shell fixed bed membrane reactor with well-mixed catalyst pattern for production of styrene and cyclohexane

A rigorous two-dimensional steady state mathematical model based on the dusty gas model is implemented to investigate the performance of a bench-scale integrated multi-shell fixed bed membrane reactor with well-mixed catalyst pattern for simultaneous production of styrene and cyclohexane. Since the styrene producing reaction is equilibrium limited, significant displacement of the thermodynamic equilibrium is achieved by three simultaneous actions of an auxiliary hydrogenation reaction of benzene using a well-mixed catalyst pattern, the membrane and the multi-shell reactor configuration. The simulation results show that the complete conversion of ethylbenzene is possible at relatively low temperature and shorter reactor length. Effective operating regions with optimal conditions are observed and explanations offered. An effective length criterion for the optimal conditions is presented. The effective operating regions are found to be sensitive to changes of catalyst bed composition, feed temperature, feed pressure and shells ratio. It is also found that the multi-shell configuration is superior to the single shell configuration. Although this investigation is restricted to two catalysts and two shells, some of the rich characteristics of this system have been uncovered.     

超滤和反应器偶联组合进行干酪素酶解反应

在研究底物浓度对干酪素酶解反应影响的基础上 ,提出干酪素酶解反应应当以边分离边反应的形式进行。因此以三种不同的操作方法 (反应与膜分离分别进行 ;连续偶联反应 ;半连续反应和连续偶联反应组合 ) ,对超滤和反应器的偶联组合进行了研究。其中以半间歇与连续偶联反应器的偶联组合为最佳。当底物浓度为 10 0 g· L-1时 ,得率达到 97% ,比反应与分离分别进行的方式提高了 16 .7%。在此三种方法中 ,超滤对总氮的截留率分别为 σ1=0 .11+0 .0 81t;σ2 =0 .15 +0 .0 0 7t;σ3 =0 .2 1- 8.8× 10 -6t。反应与超滤同时进行时透过液的稳定膜通量为 3.5 L·h-1· m-2     

Experimental Evaluation of Dehydrogenations Using Catalytic Membrane Processes

Abstract

Many industrially important dehydrogenation reactions are operated under conditions where the equilibrium conversion is limited by the production of hydrogen. Ceramic membrane reactors offer the potential for increased conversion at existing operating temperatures or reduced operating temperature for the same conversion level by removal of product hydrogen.

This paper reports the results of recent efforts to develop catalytic membrane reactors for the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene. The focus of this study was to compare the performance of a hybrid reactor, consisting of a packed bed followed by a membrane reactor, with that of a traditional two-stage packed-bed reactor under industrially relevant conditions. The hybrid configuration mimics the simplest implementation of a ceramic membrane reactor, simulating the use of the membrane reactor as an add on stage to the existing reactor train.

A benchscale system has been developed that is capable of experimentally simulating the industrial operation. Features of this system include syringe pumps from which an ethylbenzene liquid hourly space velocity of 0.4 hr^?1 is attainable with a water:ethylbenzene molar ratio of 9, a 7-zone furnace in which isothermal catalyst bed temperature profiles within ± 1°C are achieved, and two dual FID/TCD on-line gas chromatographs for simultaneous analysis of the entire spectrum of compounds in the permeate and reject effluents from the reactor with 30 minute analysis turnaround time. The membrane module incorporates a four-point thermocouple in the catalyst bed to insure isothermal operation and three single-point thermocouples on the permeate side for monitoring purposes.

Results obtained with this system showed a 4% yield enhancement to styrene in the hybrid reactor compared to the traditional two-stage packed bed. This enhancement was achieved with no loss in styrene selectivity. Carbon deposition on the membrane was observed during reaction which rapidly reduced the permeability from 70 m³/m²/hr/atm for the fresh membrane to a value of 2 m³/m²/hr/atm under reaction conditions. This 2 m³/m²/hr/atm permeability was a steady state value representing a dynamic equilibrium between coke formation from organic compounds and coke removal due to the presence of steam in the reaction mixture and was constant for run times in excess of 100 hours.     

Simulation of autothermal reforming in a staged‐separation membrane reactor for pure hydrogen production

Steam methane reforming with oxygen input is simulated in staged‐separation membrane reactors. The configuration retains the advantage of regular membrane reactors for achieving super‐equilibrium conversion, but reaction and membrane separation are carried out in two separate units. Equilibrium is assumed in the models given the excess of catalyst. The optimal pure hydrogen yield is obtained with 55% of the total membrane area allocated to the first of two modules. The performance of the process with pure oxygen input is only marginally better than with air. Oxygen must be added in split mode to reach autothermal operation for both reformer modules, and the oxygen input to each module depends on the process conditions. The effects of temperature, steam‐to‐carbon ratio and pressure of the reformer and the area of the membrane modules are investigated for various conditions. Compared with a traditional reformer with an ex situ membrane purifier downstream, the staged reactor is capable of much better pure hydrogen yield for the same autothermal reforming operating conditions.     

Methanol production in an optimized dual-membrane fixed-bed reactor

Coupling reaction and separation in a membrane reactor improves the reactor efficiency and reduces purification cost in the following stages. This paper focuses on modeling and optimization of methanol production in a dual-membrane reactor. In this configuration, conventional methanol reactor is supported by Pd/Ag membrane tubes for hydrogen permeation and alumina–silica composite membrane tubes for water vapor removal from the reaction zone. A steady state heterogeneous one-dimensional mathematical model is developed to predict the performance of this novel configuration. In order to verify the accuracy of the model, simulation results of the conventional reactor is compared with available industrial plant data. The main advantages of the optimized dual-membrane reactor are: higher CO₂ conversion, the possibility of overcoming the limitation imposed by thermodynamic equilibrium, improvement of the methanol production rate and its purity. Genetic algorithm as an exceptionally simple evolution strategy is employed to maximize the methanol production as the objective function. This configuration has enhanced methanol production rate by 13.2% compared to industrial methanol synthesis reactor.     

Heterogeneous modeling of an autothermal membrane reactor coupling dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene with hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline: Fickian diffusion model

Coupling of reactions in catalytic membrane reactors provides a route to process intensification. Dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene and hydrogenation of nitrobenzene form a promising pair of processes to be coupled in a membrane reactor. The heat released from the hydrogenation side is utilized to break the endothermality on the dehydrogenation side, while hydrogen produced on the dehydrogenation side permeates through the hydrogen-selective membranes, enhances the equilibrium conversion of ethylbenzene and reacts with nitrobenzene on the permeate side to produce aniline. Mathematical reactor models are excellent tools to evaluate the extent of improvement before experiments are set up. However, a careful selection of phenomena considered by the reactor model is needed in order to obtain accurate model predictions.To investigate the effect of the intraparticle resistances on the performance of the cocurrent configuration of the coupling reactor, a heterogeneous fixed bed reactor model is developed with Fickian diffusion inside the catalyst pellets. For the condition of interest, the styrene yield is found to be 82% by the homogenous model, 73% by the heterogeneous model for isothermal pellets, and 69% by the heterogeneous model with non-isothermal pellets. Hence, the homogeneous model overestimates the yield by 5–15% of their actual values.     

聚苯乙烯高温快速热解制备苯乙烯的研究

将聚苯乙烯(PS)溶于甲苯以雾化方式进料,在管式反应器中借助高温短停留时间快速热解制取苯乙烯,探讨了热解温度、停留时间、热解气氛、喷嘴口径等反应条件对热解的影响。结果表明,随停留时间增加,油相和苯乙烯收率总体呈上升趋势;苯乙烯收率随热解温度升高呈先增加后下降趋势,890 ℃时苯乙烯收率最大达到36.67 %;热解气主要为甲烷、乙烯和丙烯,其收率随停留时间和热解温度增加而增加;引入水蒸气可以减少反应结炭;喷嘴口径明显影响油相和苯乙烯收率。     

A Novel Fluidized‐Bed Membrane Dual‐Type Reactor Concept for Methanol Synthesis

A novel fluidized‐bed membrane dual‐type methanol reactor (FBMDMR) concept is proposed in this paper. In this proposed reactor, the cold feed synthesis gas is fed to the tubes of the gas‐cooled reactor and flows in counter‐current mode with a reacting gas mixture in the shell side of the reactor, which is a novel membrane‐assisted fluidized bed. In this way, the synthesis gas is heated by heat of reaction which is produced in the reaction side. Hydrogen can penetrate from the feed synthesis gas side into the reaction side as a result of a hydrogen partial pressure difference between both sides. The outlet synthesis gas from this reactor is fed to tubes of the water‐cooled packed bed reactor and the chemical reaction is initiated by the catalyst. The partially converted gas leaving this reactor is directed into the shell of the gas‐cooled reactor and the reactions are completed in this fluidized‐bed side. This reactor configuration solves some drawbacks observed from the new conventional dual‐type methanol reactor, such as pressure drop, internal mass transfer limitations, radial gradient of concentration, and temperature in the gas‐cooled reactor. The two‐phase theory of fluidization is used to model and simulate the proposed reactor. An industrial dual‐type methanol reactor (IDMR) and a fluidized‐bed dual‐type methanol reactor (FBDMR) are used as a basis for comparison. This comparison shows enhancement in the yield of methanol production in the fluidized‐bed membrane dual‐type methanol reactor (FBMDMR).     

Economic feasibility of silica and palladium composite membranes for industrial dehydrogenation reactions

This article addresses the economic feasibility of silica and palladium composite membranes for gaseous dehydrogenation reaction schemes. Unlike other methodologies addressed so far, this work presents the economic assessment of dehydrogenation reaction schemes using a conceptual design based simulation methodology for the comparative economic assessment of membrane reactors with conventional reactors. The suggested methodology is applied to two industrially prominent reaction schemes namely styrene (from ethylbenzene) and propylene (from propane) production using silica and palladium composite membrane reactors. Various sub-cases studied in this work include the influence of membrane area per reaction zone volume, reaction zone temperature, reaction and permeation zone pressure, membrane thickness and sweep gas flow rate on process economics. Based on this work, the propylene production scheme is evaluated to provide 60–70% excess profits using membrane reactors when compared with the conventional reactor based technology. However, the gross profit profiles for both conventional reactor and membrane reactor configurations have been found to be similar for styrene production case. For all cases, the cost contribution of membranes and other auxiliary equipment is estimated not to exceed 20% of the total costs. In addition, similar economic performance has been observed for both silica and palladium membranes. Based on these studies, it has been concluded that the industrial applicability of membrane reactors is economically suitable for those dehydrogenation reactions that enable significant conversion enhancement with respect to the conventional reactor technologies.     

Comparison of diffusion models in the modeling of a catalytic membrane fixed bed reactor coupling dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene with hydrogenation of nitrobenzene

Coupling of dehydrogenation of ethylbezene with hydrogenation of nitrobenzene in a catalytic membrane reactor can lead to a significant improvement in the conversion of ethylbenzene and production of styrene. In this work, the homogeneous reactor model for a cocurrent flow configuration is compared to two heterogeneous models based on the Fickian diffusion model and the dusty gas model for both isothermal and non-isothermal pellets. It is observed that both heterogeneous models predict a significant drop in yield and conversion compared to the homogeneous model, indicating the importance of heterogeneity. This drop is generally less severe for the dusty gas model than for the Fickian diffusion model. The assumption of isothermality causes larger deviations than the assumption of Fickian diffusion. The deviations in the predictions of the homogenous model and the heterogeneous models from those of the dusty gas model for non-isothermal pellets are ∼6% and ∼11%, respectively.     

Co‐current and Countercurrent Configurations for a Membrane Dual Type Methanol Reactor

A dynamic model for a membrane dual‐type methanol reactor was developed in the presence of catalyst deactivation. This reactor is a shell and tube type where the first reactor is cooled with cooling water and the second one with feed synthesis gas. In this reactor system, the wall of the tubes in the gas‐cooled reactor is covered with a palladium‐silver membrane which is only permeable to hydrogen. Hydrogen can penetrate from the feed synthesis gas side into the reaction side due to the hydrogen partial pressure driving force. Hydrogen permeation through the membrane shifts the reaction towards the product side according to the thermodynamic equilibrium. Moreover, the performance of the reactor was investigated when the reaction gas side and feed gas side streams are continuously either co‐current or countercurrent. Comparison between co‐current and countercurrent mode in terms of temperature, activity, methanol production rate as well as permeation rate of hydrogen through the membrane shows that the reactor in co‐current configuration operates with lower conversion and also lower permeation rate of hydrogen but with longer catalyst life than does the reactor in countercurrent configuration.     

微孔无机膜反应器研究

主要介绍了无机膜在化学反应中的应用－－膜反应器研究，对膜反应器的特点、类型、应用、影响因素以及与其它反应器的比较进行了评述，并对其应用前景进行了展望。     

膜化学反应器及其应用进展

提出将膜化学反应器分为四 ：膜反应分离器、膜混合反应器、膜混合反应分离器和膜介观孔道反应器，并分别对各类反应器的特征、功能及其应用进行了评述。     

Catalytic membrane reactor for oxidative coupling of methane. Part II —Catalytic properties of LaOCl membranes

This work presents the potential of a LaOCI porous membrane reactor for the reaction of oxidative coupling of methane. The sol-gel method provided LaOCl membranes supported on alumina tubes which presented mesoporous texture. Actually, the severe operating conditions of this reaction caused textural instability which restricted any transport effects to the macroporous domain. However, despite moderate separation effects between methane and oxygen, beneficial effects of the membrane reactor have been observed, subject to surface composition, structural and feeding configuration requirements.     

Computational study of staged membrane reactor configurations for methane steam reforming. II. Effect of number of stages and catalyst amount

The present work complements part I of this article and completes a computational analysis of the performances of staged membrane reactors for methane steam reforming. The influence of the number of stages and catalyst amount is investigated by comparing the methane conversion and hydrogen recovery yield achieved by an equisized‐staged reactor to those of an equivalent conventional membrane reactor for different furnace temperatures and flow configurations (co‐ and counter‐current). The most relevant result is that the proposed configuration with a sufficiently high number of stages and a significantly smaller catalyst amount (up to 70% lower) can achieve performances very close to the ones of the conventional unit in all the operating conditions considered. This is equivalent to say that the staged configuration can compensate and in fact substitute a significant part of the catalyst mass of a conventional membrane reactor. To help the interpretation of these results, stage‐by‐stage temperature and flux profiles are examined in detail. Then, the quantification of the performance losses with respect to the conventional reactor is carried out by evaluating the catalyst amount possibly saved and furnace temperature reduction. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010     

Dehydrogenation of Ethylbenzene to Styrene Using Commercial Ceramic Membranes as Reactors

Abstract

The catalytic dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene in a membrane reactor was studied at 600° to 640°C. The reactor selected in this study is a commercial alumina membrane tube with 40Å pore diameter packed with granular catalysts. One of the reaction products, hydrogen, was separated through the membrane. Therefore, the catalytic dehydrogenation was enhanced by reducing the hydrogen partial pressure in the reactor. The conversion of ethylbenzene increased ～15% compared to the conversion in the packed-bed reactor. The hydrothermal stability of membrane reactor after reactions was examined by nitrogen permeation test and SEM. It indicated that the pore diameter increased to 60 ～ 90Å and the microstructure of membrane remained intact.