Methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation for hydrogen production via a bimodal catalytic membrane reactor

Methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation for hydrogen production via a bimodal catalytic membrane reactor

Type	Journal Article
Author	Lie Meng
Author	Xin Yu
URL	http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.14764/abstract
Publication	AIChE Journal
Date	February 1, 2015
Abstract	Researchers studied the dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane (MCH) to toluene (TOL) for hydrogen production in a bimodal catalytic membrane reactor (CMR), combining Pt/Al2O3 catalysts with a hydrogen-selective organosilica membrane prepared via sol-gel processing using bis(triethoxysilyl) ethane (BTESE). They examined the effects of operating conditions on the membrane reactor performance. Experimental results agreed with those calculated by a simulation model with a fitted catalyst loading. With H2 extraction from the reaction stream to the permeate stream, MCH conversion at 250°C increased beyond the equilibrium conversion of 0.44–0.86. Because of the high H2 selectivity and permeance of BTESE-derived membranes, a H2 flow with purity higher than 99.8% was obtained in the permeate stream, and the H2 recovery ratio reached 0.99 in a pressurized reactor. Accordingly, a system that combines the CMR with a fixed-bed prereactor is proposed for MCH dehydrogenation.