Potential application of a microporous silica membrane reactor for cyclohexane dehydrogenation

Hydrogen gained increasing attention during the last years as an alternative, environmental friendly fuel. Cyclohexane is a proposed hydrogen carrier that possesses many advantages. The use of a membrane reactor (MR) for cyclohexane dehydrogenation seems to be an ideal application, since hydrogen extraction from the reaction mixture would lead to conversion enhancement and simultaneous hydrogen production. In this study high quality microporous silica membranes was prepared and characterized. The membranes showed high potential for application in a membrane reactor for cyclohexane dehydrogenation. The performance of the proposed membrane reactor was evaluated using a simple mathematical model that developed for this purpose. The modelling results confirmed the supremacy of a membrane over a conventional plug flow reactor (PFR).