A novel configuration for hydrogen production from coupling of methanol and benzene synthesis in a hydrogen-permselective membrane reactor

Coupling energy intensive endothermic reaction systems with suitable exothermic reactions improve the thermal efficiency of processes and reduce the size of the reactors. One type of reactor suitable for such a type of coupling is the heat-exchanger reactor. In this work, a distributed mathematical model for thermally coupled membrane reactor that is composed of three sides is developed for methanol and benzene synthesis. Methanol synthesis takes place in the exothermic side and supplies the necessary heat for the endothermic dehydrogenation of cyclohexane reaction. Selective permeation of hydrogen through the Pd/Ag membrane is achieved by co-current flow of sweep gas through the permeation side. A steady-state heterogeneous model of the two fixed beds predicts the performance of this novel configuration. The co-current mode is investigated and the simulation results are compared with corresponding predictions for an industrial methanol fixed-bed reactor operated at the same feed conditions. The results show that although methanol productivity is the same as conventional methanol reactor, but benzene is also produced as an additional valuable product in a favorable manner, and auto-thermal conditions are achieved within the both reactors and also pure hydrogen is produced in permeation side. This novel configuration can increase the rate of methanol synthesis reaction and shift the thermodynamics equilibrium. The performance of the reactor is numerically investigated for various key operating variables such as inlet temperatures, molar flow rates of exothermic and endothermic streams, membrane thickness and sweep gas flow rate. The reactor performance is analyzed based on methanol yield, cyclohexane conversion and hydrogen recovery yield. The results suggest that coupling of these reactions in the presence of membrane could be feasible and beneficial. Experimental proof-of-concept is needed to establish the validity and safe operation of the novel reactor.