Publications Details

Inorganic membrane reactor technology CRADA {number_sign}1176; Final report and assessment of membrane technology

Schwartz, R.W.

This project focused on the fabrication and evaluation of supported inorganic membranes for hydrogen and oxygen separation in petrochemical processes. A variety of fabrication techniques, including CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), electroless plating, solution deposition and conventional ceramic processing methods were used for membrane fabrication. For the oxygen separation membrane materials studied, the high surface roughness of the commercially available (and chemically compatible) MgO supports for high flux oxygen materials (SrCo{sub 0.5}FeO{sub x} and SrCo{sub 0.8}Fe{sub 0.2}O{sub x}) hindered the development of supported membranes of these materials. More encouraging results were obtained for the supported hydrogen separation membranes. Both dense palladium (prepared by CVD and electroless plating) and ultramicroporous silica (prepared by solution deposition) membranes were fabricated onto porous alumina supports. Gas separation characteristics and reactor performance of the membranes were both studied. Of the two classes of membranes, when incorporated into a membrane reactor the silica membranes demonstrated the best performance. Propane and isobutane dehydrogenation processes were studied and the silica membrane reactors displayed modest improvements in performance compared to the conventional reactors. In propane dehydrogenation, an increase in propylene yield of 34% was obtained with the membrane reactor (compared to the conventional reactor); in isobutane dehydrogenation, an increase in isobutylene yield of 40% at 525 C was obtained. However, these performance gains decreased somewhat with time on stream, due to membrane instability. Further improvements in membrane stability and permselectivity, as well as catalyst stability are needed before membrane reactors can be considered as a realistic alternative to the existing conventional technology.