Bench-Scale Membrane Reactor for Methylcyclohexane Dehydrogenation Using Silica Membrane Module.

Masahiro Seshimo,Ryoichi Nishida,Kazuaki Sasa,Shin-Ichi Nakao,Hitoshi Nishino,Hiromi Urai,Yuichiro Yamaguchi

doi:10.3390/membranes11050326

Masahiro Seshimo, Ryoichi Nishida + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11050326

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Abstract

Methylcyclohexane-toluene system is one of the most promising methods for hydrogen transport/storage. The methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation can be exceeded by the equilibrium conversion using membrane reactor. However, the modularization of the membrane reactor and manufacturing longer silica membranes than 100 mm are little developed. Herein, we have developed silica membrane with practical length by a counter-diffusion chemical vapor deposition method, and membrane reactor module bundled multiple silica membranes. The developed 500 mm-length silica membrane had high hydrogen permselective performance (H2 permeance > 1 × 10−6 mol m−2 s−1 Pa−1, H2/SF6 selectivity > 10,000). In addition, we successfully demonstrated effective methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation using a flange-type membrane reactor module, which was installed with 6 silica membranes. The results indicated that conversion of methylcyclohexane was around 85% at 573 K, whereas the equilibrium conversion was 42%.

Highlights

In order to create a hydrogen energy–based society, transport and storage of hydrogen in one of the most important issues
Palladium-based or silica membranes which show hydrogen selective permeation performance are developed for MCH dehydrogenation membrane reactors
We evaluated the performance of bench–scale membrane reactor including multiple silica membranes for methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation

Summary

Introduction

In order to create a hydrogen energy–based society, transport and storage of hydrogen in one of the most important issues. Palladium-based or silica membranes which show hydrogen selective permeation performance are developed for MCH dehydrogenation membrane reactors. Hydrogen permeation performance of membranes greatly affects the reaction efficiency when we use membrane reactors; higher hydrogen permeance is desirable for the practical application of membrane reactors for the MCH dehydrogenation. It is possible to obtain high hydrogen permeance by loosely tuning the pore diameter For both preparation methods, pore size of the silica membrane can be controlled relatively by changing silica precursor [13,14,15]; these membranes can be applied to the membrane reactor for MCH dehydrogenation [16,17]. DMDPS–derived silica membrane having high H2 permselective performance prepared by counter-diffusion chemical vapor deposition method, and module of six silica membranes. Improvement of heat transfer to catalyst layer was investigated

Materials and Methods

Bench–Scale Membrane Reactor Test for Methylcyclohexane Dehydrogenation

Permeation Performance of 500 mm-length DMDPS-Derived Silica Membrane

Conclusions