Inorganic Membrane Reactors

With the recent advent of commercial ceramic membranes, inorganic membranes are receiving much attention as unique separators and reactors due to their excellent thermal and chemical stabilities. This volume provides an extensive and integrated survey of the science and technology of inorganic membranes. Various methods for making dense metal and solid electrolyte membranes and porous inorganic membranes with tortuous and nearly straight pores are provided. These inorganic membranes, ranging from ceramics to metals to inorganic polymers, can be characterized by many techniques indicative of their separation performance under idealized as well as application conditions. In addition to many commercial liquid-phase applications, inorganic membranes have been used industrially for gas diffusion and particle filtration and demonstrated for the important high-temperature gas separation and membrane reactor applications. Approximately half of the book is devoted to the subject of inorganic membrane reactors. Useful data in many tables and figures and extensive literature and patent information are given throughout the book for further study. The book is a valuable reference for researchers as well as process engineers who are involved in membrane and separation technology. Chemical engineers, chemists and material scientists should also find the text a comprehensible introduction to the subject.

Membrane reactors combine membrane functions such as separation, reactant distribution, and catalyst support with chemical reactions in a single unit. The benefits of this approach include enhanced conversion, increased yield, and selectivity, as well as a more compact and cost-effect design of reactor system. Hence, membrane reactors are an effective route toward chemical process intensification. This book covers all types of porous membrane reactors, including ceramic, silica, carbon, zeolite, and dense metallic reactors such as Pd or Pd-alloy, oxygen ion-conducting, and proton-conducting ceramics. For each type of membrane reactor, the membrane transport principles, membrane fabrication, configuration and operation of membrane reactors, and their current and potential applications are described comprehensively. A summary of the critical issues and hurdles for each membrane reaction process is also provided, with the aim of encouraging successful commercial applications. The audience for Inorganic Membrane Reactors includes advanced students, industrial and academic researchers, and engineers with an interest in membrane reactors.

A membrane reactor is a device for simultaneously performing a reaction and a membrane-based separation in the same physical device. Therefore, the membrane not only plays the role of a separator, but also takes place in the reaction itself. This text covers, in detail, the preparation and characterisation of all types of membranes used in membranes reactors. Each membrane synthesis process used by membranologists is explained by well known scientists in their specific research field. The book opens with an exhaustive review and introduction to membrane reactors, introducing the recent advances in this field. The following chapters concern the preparation of both organic and inorganic, and in both cases, a deep analysis of all the techniques used to prepare membrane are presented and discussed. A brief historical introduction for each technique is also included, followed by a complete description of the technique as well as the main results presented in the international specialized literature. In order to give to the reader a summary look to the overall work, a conclusive chapter is included for collecting all the information presented in the previous chapters. Key features: Fills a gap in the market for a scientific book describing the preparation and characterization of all the kind of membranes used in membrane reactors Discusses an important topic - there is increasing emphasis on membranes in general, due to their use as energy efficient separation tools and the ‘green’ chemistry opportunities they offer Includes a review about membrane reactors, several chapters concerning the preparation organic, inorganic, dense, porous, and composite membranes and a conclusion with a comparison among the different membrane preparation techniques

This reference book addresses the evolution of materials for both oxygen and hydrogen transport membranes and offers strategies for their fabrication as well as their subsequent incorporation into catalytic membrane reactors. Other chapters deal with, e.g., engineering design and scale-up issues, strategies for preparation of supported thin-film membranes, or interfacial kinetic and mass transfer issues. A must for materials scientists, chemists, chemical engineers and electrochemists interested in advanced chemical processing.

Membrane reactors are increasingly replacing conventional separation, process and conversion technologies across a wide range of applications. Exploiting advanced membrane materials, they offer enhanced efficiency, are very adaptable and have great economic potential. There has therefore been increasing interest in membrane reactors from both the scientific and industrial communities, stimulating research and development. The two volumes of the Handbook of membrane reactors draw on this research to provide an authoritative review of this important field. Volume 1 explores fundamental materials science, design and optimisation, beginning with a review of polymeric, dense metallic and composite membranes for membrane reactors in part one. Polymeric and nanocomposite membranes for membrane reactors, inorganic membrane reactors for hydrogen production, palladium-based composite membranes and alternatives to palladium-based membranes for hydrogen separation in membrane reactors are all discussed. Part two goes on to investigate zeolite, ceramic and carbon membranes and catalysts for membrane reactors in more depth. Finally, part three explores membrane reactor modelling, simulation and optimisation, including the use of mathematical modelling, computational fluid dynamics, artificial neural networks and non-equilibrium thermodynamics to analyse varied aspects of membrane reactor design and production enhancement. With its distinguished editor and international team of expert contributors, the two volumes of the Handbook of membrane reactors provide an authoritative guide for membrane reactor researchers and materials scientists, chemical and biochemical manufacturers, industrial separations and process engineers, and academics in this field. Considers polymeric, dense metallic and composite membranes for membrane reactors Discusses cereamic and carbon for membrane reactors in detail Reactor modelling, simulation and optimisation is also discussed

The withstanding properties of inorganic membranes provide a set of tools for solving many of the problems that the society is facing, from environmental to energy problems and from water quality to more competitive industries. Such a wide variety of issues requires a fundamental approach, together with the precise description of applications provided by those researchers that have been close to the industrial applications. The contents of this book expand the lectures given in a Summer School of the European Membrane Society. They combine an easily accessible description of the technology, suitable for the graduate level, with the most advanced developments and the prospective of future applications. The large variety of membrane types makes almost compulsory to select a specialist for each of them, and this has been the approach selected in this book. In the case of porous membranes, the advances are related to the synthesis of microporous materials such as silica, carbon and zeolite membranes and hollow fibre membranes. A chapter covers the increasingly relevant hybrid membranes. Attention is also devoted to dense inorganic membranes, experiencing constantly improved properties. The applications of all these membranes are considered throughout the book. Covers all the inorganic membranes field, by different experts It comes from a European Summer School It includes future directions in the field

Membrane reactors are increasingly replacing conventional separation, process and conversion technologies across a wide range of applications. Exploiting advanced membrane materials, they offer enhanced efficiency, are very adaptable and have great economic potential. There has therefore been increasing interest in membrane reactors from both the scientific and industrial communities, stimulating research and development. The two volumes of the Handbook of membrane reactors draw on this research to provide an authoritative review of this important field. Volume 1 explores fundamental materials science, design and optimisation, beginning with a review of polymeric, dense metallic and composite membranes for membrane reactors in part one. Polymeric and nanocomposite membranes for membrane reactors, inorganic membrane reactors for hydrogen production, palladium-based composite membranes and alternatives to palladium-based membranes for hydrogen separation in membrane reactors are all discussed. Part two goes on to investigate zeolite, ceramic and carbon membranes and catalysts for membrane reactors in more depth. Finally, part three explores membrane reactor modelling, simulation and optimisation, including the use of mathematical modelling, computational fluid dynamics, artificial neural networks and non-equilibrium thermodynamics to analyse varied aspects of membrane reactor design and production enhancement. With its distinguished editor and international team of expert contributors, the two volumes of the Handbook of membrane reactors provide an authoritative guide for membrane reactor researchers and materials scientists, chemical and biochemical manufacturers, industrial separations and process engineers, and academics in this field.

"This work encompasses a broad treatment of the field, including the basic principles of membrane reactors, a comparative study of these and other, classical reactors, modelling, industrial applications, emerging applications, etc.".