Inorganic Catalytic Membranes for Methanol Production

研究了一种新型的膜反应器，在该反应器中，一氧化碳和氢气被催化转化为甲醇。例如，在合成气转化为液体的过程中，这是一个重要的反应。提出了在甲醇在膜表面吸附较强的条件下，对于足够小的透过膜孔径，表面扩散机制可能主导了透过膜的传递，使甲醇具有比一种或多种反应物更高的渗透率。这一快速奖励将使研究人员能够寻找在何种条件下甲醇选择性地通过陶瓷膜。更广泛地使用该技术生产可再生燃料的一个主要经济障碍是平衡常数非常小，导致每次一氧化碳到甲醇的转化率非常小。要使用膜反应器通过选择性地从反应混合物中去除甲醇来提高转化率，必须找到条件，在该条件下，陶瓷膜将选择性地将反应产物甲醇从反应器中排出，从而产生更高的产率和更好的经济性。

This is an investigation of a novel membrane reactor in which carbon monoxide and hydrogen are catalytically converted into methanol. This is an important reaction, for example, in the conversion of syngas to liquids. It is proposed that under conditions of strong adsorption of the methanol on the membrane surface, for a small enough pore size through the membrane, a surface diffusion mechanism may dominate transport through the membrane and give a higher permeability of methanol than one or more of the reactants. This expedited award will allow the investigator to search for conditions under which methanol is selectively passed by a ceramic membrane. A major economic impediment to more widespread use of the technology to produce renewable fuels is that the equilibrium constant is very small, resulting in very small conversions of carbon monoxide to methanol per pass. To use a membrane reactor to improve conversions by selectively removing methanol from the reaction mixture, conditions must be found under which a ceramic membrane will selectively pass the reaction product, methanol, out of the reactor, thus resulting in much higher yields and much better economics.