Inorganic membrane reactors for the oxidative coupling of methane

Inorganic membrane reactors have been investigated for the oxidative coupling of methane to improve yields over those produced in a fixed-bed reactor. The membrane reactor produces small yield improvements using a samarium oxide doped magnesium oxide catalyst. The magnitude of the yield increase is less than reported values for other partial oxidation reactions. These differences are shown to be a function of the intrinsic reaction kinetics with the aid of an isothermal membrane reactor model.