Modeling of ethylbenzene dehydrogenation in catalytic membrane reactor with porous membrane

Abstract The modeling of ethylbenzene dehydrogenation in a catalytic membrane reactor has been carried out for porous membrane by means of two-dimensional, non-isothermal stationary mathematical model. A mathematical model of the catalytic membrane reactor was applied, in order to study the effects of transport properties of the porous membrane on process performance. The performed modeling of the heat and mass transfer processes within the porous membrane, allowed us to estimate the efficiency of its use in membrane reactors, in comparison with a dense membrane (with additional oxidation of the hydrogen in shell side). The use of a porous ceramic membrane was found to cause an increase of the ethylbenzene conversion at 600°C, up to 93 %, while the conversion in the case of conventional reactor was 67%. In this work, we defined the key parameter values of porous membrane (pore diameter and thickness) for ethylbenzene dehydrogenation in catalytic membrane reactor, at which the highest conversion of ethylbenzene and styrene selectivity can be reached.