BEST ACHIEVABLE ISOMERIZATION REACTION CONVERSION IN A MEMBRANE REACTOR

Membrane reactors provide exciting opportunities for overcoming thermo dynamic limits on the maximum attainable conversion of reversible reac tions. Some of them are of particular interest to the petrochemical in dustry. A simple membrane reactor model has been employed to investiga te the performance of a reversible reaction A reversible arrow B and i dentify the operating conditions (for efficient reactant use and reduc ed waste generation) at which maximum conversion occurs. This conversi on supremization problem is shown to be nonconvex and possess disconti nuity properties which lead to different optimal conditions. Analytic formulas that describe the maximum attainable conversion have been der ived. These help identify when conversions above the equilibrium conve rsion can be attained. They also reveal that the surface-to-volume rat io should be small to attain maximum conversion. Applications are disc ussed for butane isomerization reactions important to the manufacture of alkylates and reformulated gasoline.