SORPTION-ENHANCED REACTION PROCESS

A process for carrying out simultaneous reaction and separation of des ired products in a single unit operation is described It uses a fixed packed column of an admixture of a catalyst and a sorbent that selecti vely removes a reaction by-product from the reaction zone. The sorbent is periodically regenerated by using the principles of pressure-swing adsorption. The process steps allow direct production of the desired product at high purity and at the reaction pressure. High conversion o f the reactants to products in an endothermic, equilibrium-controlled reaction can be achieved while operating the reaction at a substantial ly lower temperature than would be necessary by a plug-flow reactor pa cked with the catalyst alone. The equilibrium-controlled reverse water -gas shift reaction for the production of carbon monoxide is experimen tally evaluated as a proof of the concept.