A Membrane Reactor Capable of Shifting Equilibria in Reversible Reactions

抄録

A new membrane reactor concept which can shift the equilibria in reversible reactions can and drive the reactions to high conversion beyond that attainable in a conventional reactor was developed. The reactor is equipped with a composite of a catalytic membrane and a permselective membrane such as a supported liquid membrane through which the reactant is more permeable than the products and furthermore transfers actively to the reaction zone in the catalytic membrane. For a simple first-order reversible reaction, the conversion is theoretically examined. Analysis showed that the conversion exceeds sharply the thermodynamically obtainable maximum conversion or one obtainable in a conventional reactor, and the reaction proceeds almost irreversibly even if the equilibrium constant is small.