Heat transfer and temperature profiles in flow-through catalytic membrane reactors

In flow-through membrane reactors, a porous membrane is used as a microstructured catalyst support, which provides for an intensive contact between reactants and catalyst. When performing exothermal gas phase reactions, large temperature differences between feed and permeate side are observed. This work systematically derives an axial temperature profile inside the inaccessible membrane pores by combining a one-dimensional reactor model of mass and energy balances with experimental measurements of reactor temperatures and conversion, applying ethene hydrogenation as a model reaction. It is shown, that the anodized membrane reactor can be regarded as isothermal under any operating conditions and the heat transfer mechanisms inside the membrane prove to be irrelevant for the resulting membrane temperature. By applying the derived heat transfer model to the performed ethene hydrogenation experiments, the reactor temperature can be predicted satisfactorily in the whole range of performed experiments.