Total combustion of methyl-ethyl ketone over Fe2O3 based catalytic membrane reactors

The concept of a Knudsen contactor for total combustion of methyl-ethyl ketone (MEK) in diluted streams using Fe2O3 as catalyst has been investigated in this work. In this type of gas–solid contactor, mass transfer resistances are greatly reduced since reactants are forced to permeate across the membrane wall where the catalyst is dispersed. Essentially, complete combustion of methyl-ethyl ketone (used as an example of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)) in the range 500–2000 ppm V was achieved at temperatures as low as 255 °C.