A catalytic membrane composite that includes porous supported catalyst particles durably enmeshed in a porous fibrillated polymer membrane is provided. The porous fibrillated polymer membrane may be manipulated to take the form of a tube, disc, or diced tape and used in multiphase reaction systems. The supported catalyst particles are composed of at least one finely divided metal catalyst dispersed on a porous support substrate. High catalytic activity is gained by the effective fine dispersion of the finely divided metal catalyst such that the metal catalyst covers the support substrate and/or is interspersed in the pores of the support substrate. In some embodiments, the catalytic membrane composite may be introduced to a stirred tank autoclave reactor system, a continuous flow reactor system, or a Parr Shaker reaction system and used to effect the catalytic reaction.

Hydrogen-producing fuel processing systems and related methods. The systems include a hydrogen-producing region configured to produce a mixed gas stream from a feedstock stream, a hydrogen-separation membrane module having at least one hydrogen-selective membrane and configured to separate the mixed gas stream into a product hydrogen stream and a byproduct stream, and an oxidant delivery system configured to deliver an oxidant-containing stream to the hydrogen-separation membrane module in situ to increase hydrogen permeance of the hydrogen-selective membrane. The methods include operating a hydrogen-producing fuel processing system in a hydrogen-producing regime, and subsequently operating the hydrogen-producing fuel processing system in a restoration regime, in which an oxidant-containing stream is delivered to the hydrogen-separation membrane module in situ to expose the at least one hydrogen-selective membrane to the oxidant-containing stream to increase the hydrogen permeance of the at least one hydrogen-selective membrane.

The invention relates to a reactor and a method for producing a product, wherein the reactor comprises an inner part which is formed at least in part from a porous material comprising a catalyst and in which at least one reactant is arranged to flow into the inner part and after that through the porous material to form a product, a shell structure which surrounds the inner part, a space between the inner part and the shell structure in which the product formed from the reactant in the porous material is arranged to flow out from the reactor, and a heating device for heating electrically the porous material. Further, the invention relates to the use of the reactor.

The present specification discloses a membrane reactor comprising a reaction region; a permeate region; and a composite membrane disposed at a boundary of the reaction region and the permeate region, wherein the reaction region comprises a bed filled with a catalyst for dehydrogenation reaction, wherein the composite membrane comprises a support layer including a metal with a body-centered-cubic (BCC) crystal structure, and a catalyst layer including a palladium (Pd) or a palladium alloy formed onto the support layer, wherein ammonia (NH.sub.3) is supplied to the reaction region, the ammonia is converted into hydrogen (H.sub.2) by the dehydrogenation reaction in the presence of the catalyst for dehydrogenation reaction, and the hydrogen permeates the composite membrane and is emitted from the membrane reactor through the permeate region.

This disclosure relates to a process of converting one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes that includes providing a first stream containing one or more alkanes and oxygen to an oxidative dehydrogenation process which converts at least a portion of the one or more alkanes to one or more alkenes in an oxidative dehydrogenation reactor, a second stream exiting the oxidative dehydrogenation process comprising one or more alkanes, and one or more alkenes; and providing at least a portion of the alkanes in the second stream to a catalytic membrane dehydrogenation process containing a catalyst loaded into a catalytic dehydrogenation membrane reactor which converts at least a portion of the alkanes to the corresponding alkenes and hydrogen.

The invention is directed to a furnace suited for oxidation of a gaseous starting mixture comprising one or more sulphur compounds to obtain an oxidized gas mixture and reduction of the oxidized gas mixture to obtain a gaseous mixture of reduced sulphur compounds comprising an interior furnace space, an inlet conduit for the gaseous starting mixture, an inlet for supply of an oxygen comprising gas, a ceramic comprising outlet conduit provided with an inlet opening for the mixture of reduced sulphur compounds, an inlet for hydrogen and heating means, wherein the inlet opening of the outlet conduit is comprised of more than one opening which openings fluidly connect the interior furnace space and the interior of the outlet conduit.

A reactor for oxidizing low concentrations of methane in air or other oxidizable fluid mixtures using a porous heat exchanger and a non-porous heat exchanger and an activation zone that allows the oxidation of very weak streams of methane in air or of other oxidizable fluid mixtures.

A biomethanol production system and method is provided. The system comprises (a) a feed stream comprising methane, water, and carbon dioxide; (b) a reformer reactor capable of reacting the feed stream to form a syngas mixture comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide; (c) a methanol reactor capable of reacting the syngas mixture to form biomethanol product; (d) a wash column comprising the syngas mixture and the biomethanol product, wherein the biomethanol product is capable of absorbing carbon dioxide from the syngas mixture; and (e) a flash column comprising a vent capable of venting the absorbed carbon dioxide. A method for removing carbon dioxide from a biomethanol production system is also provided.

A catalytic membrane composite that includes porous supported catalyst particles durably enmeshed in a porous fibrillated polymer membrane is provided. The porous fibrillated polymer membrane may be manipulated to take the form of a tube, disc, or diced tape and used in multiphase reaction systems. The supported catalyst particles are composed of at least one finely divided metal catalyst dispersed on a porous support substrate. High catalytic activity is gained by the effective fine dispersion of the finely divided metal catalyst such that the metal catalyst covers the support substrate and/or is interspersed in the pores of the support substrate. In some embodiments, the catalytic membrane composite may be introduced to a stirred tank autoclave reactor system, a continuous flow reactor system, or a Parr Shaker reaction system and used to effect the catalytic reaction.

The dehydration membrane reactor for methanol production from CO.sub.2 hydrogenation includes one or more porous supports, a dehydration membrane on the one or more porous supports, and a catalyst layer on the dehydration membrane. The one or more porous supports include hollow ceramic fibers and the dehydration membrane includes NaA zeolite. The reactor is made by dip-coating the porous supports in a zeolite crystal seed solution and drying the coated porous support. The coated porous support is dried at about 80° C. and then heated to a temperature above about 200° C. The NaA zeolite membrane is then grown on the seeded support, and a catalyst layer is applied to the zeolite membrane. A feedstream including carbon dioxide and hydrogen is fed to the catalyst layer, where a product stream including methanol and water is evolved. The water is then removed from the product stream through the dehydration membrane to produce a high-purity methanol product.