High-productivity dehydrogenation of light alkanes in a microchannel reactor

Improved heat transfer in an Inconel microchannel reactor leads to higher conversions (up to 40%) of isobutane and higher yields (27-34%) of isobutene in a catalysed dehydrogenation reaction compared with a conventional adiabatic fixed-bed reactor (up to 29% conversion; 19-24% yield), with improved productivity at significantly lower residence times.