Oxidative dehydrogenation of propane on V/Al2O3 catalytic membranes. Effect of the type of membrane and reactant feed configuration

An experimental study of the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane in a cata lytic membrane reactor has been carried out. The work presented explores th e influence of the type of feed arrangement and of the type of catalytic me mbrane on the yield to the partial oxidation product (propene). The experim ental setting allowed the reaction to take place with a segregated feed, in the simultaneous presence of a bi-directional diffusive Aux and a low-inte nsity unidirectional convective flow. Special attention has been devoted to studying the influence of the back permeation of the reactant hydrocarbon, and of procedures capable of preventing it. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.