Application of membrane reactor for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene

Two types of membrane reactors have been constructed in order to evaluate the influence of membrane reactor configuration on the performance of the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene in a porous alumina membrane reactor. The type I construction combine reaction and separation in the same space. The type II configuration is comprised of three parts, i.e., reaction prior to separation, reaction and separation, and reaction after separation. The results showed that the overall yield of styrene in Type I is only 4% higher than that of the fixed bed reactor at 893 K, while 11 % enhancement in yield to styrene was obtained with Type II through optimizing the reaction conditions.