Dehydrogenation of Ethane in a Membrane Reactor with Pd–Ru Palladium Alloy Foil and Alumina–Chromia Catalyst at High Temperatures
摘要
Ethane dehydrogenation is one of the most important processes for ethylene production. The main features of this process have been studied in a membrane reactor with an industrial alumina–chromia catalyst and a foil made of Pd–6% Ru palladium alloy. The working part of the reactor consists of two cylindrical chambers separated by a membrane partition. The upper chamber is evacuated, and atmospheric pressure is maintained in the lower chamber. It is known that hydrogen addition at the inlet hinders the formation of carbon deposits on the catalyst; therefore, this work investigates the influence of such additives on the process. With a uniform supply of the feed (ethane and hydrogen) along the outer perimeter of the lower chamber, the problem is reduced to finding the fluxes of ethane, ethylene, hydrogen, and methane from the solution of a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The temperature range considered is 600 K