Numerical investigation of ethylbenzene dehydrogenation and nitrobenzene hydrogenation in a membrane reactor: Effect of operating conditions

This paper is a numerical study about ethylbenzene (EB) dehydrogenation and nitrobenzene (NB) hydrogenation in a membrane reactor. Both sides of the membrane reactor were filled with an appropriate catalyst. Effect of different parameters in the dehydrogenation side including inlet temperature, pressure, catalyst porosity, and initial ethyl benzene concentration was investigated on temperature distribution and ethylbenzene and nitrobenzene conversion in the membrane reactor. Generally, the results showed that an increase in all parameters except the catalyst porosity can improve ethylbenzene and nitrobenzene conversion. The temperature was firstly decreased in the dehydrogenation side as the reactions were endothermic but there was an increase in temperature after a shorter distance from the entrance because of transferring heat from hydrogenation side into dehydrogenation side. Change in pressure has a considerable effect on the hydrogen transferring from dehydrogenation side into hydrogenation side. The styrene yield was not improved by increasing the initial ethylbenzene concentration from 5 to 20 mol/s but it has a positive influence on the yields of benzene and toluene. It was possible to achieve 0.97 of ethylbenzene conversion at 950 K. (c) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.