Membrane Reactor Designs for the Production of Olefins--Membrane Technology and Research, Inc., 1360 Willow Road, Suite 103, Menlo Park, CA 94025-1516; 650-328-2228
Dr. J.G. Wiljmams, Principal Investigator
Mr. E.G. Weiss, Business Official
DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-99ER82827
Amount: $750,000

Olefins are key feedstocks for the chemical industry. Ten billion lb/year of olefins are made by dehydrogenation of paraffins. Because the equilibrium conversion is low, a large product separation stop is required to separate and recycle unreacted paraffin. Membrane reactors have been shown to improve the equilibrium conversion of dehydrogenation reactions, but a commercial scale reactor has not been developed due to the lack of suitable membrane modules and a process design. This project will develop a membrane reactor process to increase the conversion and reduce the size of the product separation step. The Phase I project devised and modeled a new reactor/membrane separation system on a computer process simulator. Then membranes with the required selectivity were produced. The Phase II project will scale up to large membrane modules and perform tests in the laboratory and at a cooperating field site. Catalyst and reactor studies will be performed to help develop an optimized process design for economic feasibility.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee Improved, lower cost olefin production technology should provide significant cost savings for this key feedstock and positively impact the entire chemical industry significantly.