Application of a catalytic membrane reactor to the selective hydrogenation of 1-Butyne

Abstract

A catalytic membrane reactor (CMR) was applied in order to enhance the selectivity in the hydrogenation of 1-butyne in the presence of 1-butene. The performance of the CMR was studied in batch-wise operation for thehydrocarbon liquid mixture, while hydrogen was continuously fed to keep a constant partial pressure. Thereaction was carried out at 44 °C and partial pressures of hydrogen in the range of 1 to 5 bar. The CMR wasprepared by impregnating a commercial alumina membrane disk with Pd. Experimental results were comparedwith those obtained in a conventional fixed bed reactor (FBR), using a commercial catalyst of egg-shell type in itsoriginal size, and in a microreactor (MR) with the same commercial catalyst milled to a size of around 40 μm.The CMR presents high activity and selectivity, comparable to the values of the milled commercial catalyst, butsignificantly higher than for the commercial catalyst in its original size. Kinetic parameters for the hydrogenationof 1-butyne were obtained from the regression of the experimental data. Also, a simulation of a continuousoperation of both, CMR and FBR with the commercial catalyst, was carried out to show the advantage inselectivity of the CMR.