Two-Zone Fluidized Bed Reactor (TZFBR) with Palladium Membrane for Catalytic Propane Dehydrogenation: Experimental Performance Assessment

CATEGORY: REACTORS
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 2013, 52 (10), pp 3723–3731, DOI: 10.1021/ie303185p
Two-Zone Fluidized Bed Reactor (TZFBR) with Palladium Membrane for Catalytic Propane Dehydrogenation: Experimental Performance Assessment
J. A. Medrano †, I. Julián †, F. R. García-García ‡, K. Li ‡, J. Herguido *†, and M. Menéndez †
jhergui@unizar.es
† Aragón Institute for Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Spain
‡ Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ U.K.
Abstract
Researchers examined catalytic propane dehydrogenation using various reactor configurations using Pt–Sn/MgAl2O4 as a catalyst. Hollow fiber palladium membranes coupled to the two-zone fluidized bed reactor (TZFBR) combine the possibility of improving propane conversion by hydrogen removal from the reaction bed through the membrane with in situ catalyst regeneration in the lower section of the TZFBR.
Experiments were conducted under varying reaction temperatures and time on stream. The optimum regenerative agent flow fraction to be fed into the TZFBR was determined at the reaction temperatures between 500 °C and 600 °C to get a constant catalytic activity without net deactivation. Furthermore, the TZFBR with palladium membranes was tested successfully, displacing the reaction equilibrium towards the production of propylene, and still maintaining steady state in the catalytic propane dehydrogenation. Results were superior to those reported in the literature for conventional reactors.
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