Ultrapure Hydrogen Production via Dehydrogenation of Heavy Paraffin in a Linear Alkyl Benzenes Plant: Dynamic Modeling Study

• Published in: Energy & fuels Vol. 28; no. 11; pp. 7097 - 7108
• Main Authors: Bayat, M, Dehghani, Z, Rahimpour, M. R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 20.11.2014
• Subjects: Alternative fuels. Production and utilization; Applied sciences; Catalysts; Dehydrogenation; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Fuels; Hydrogen; Hydrogen production; Mathematical models; Membranes; Paraffins; Permeation; Reactors; Paraffin; Dehydrogenation; Modeling; Benzene; Hydrogen production
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/ef5012462

Nowadays, hydrogen is recognized as a clean fuel with the potential to meet future energy demand and the capability of diminishing reliance on fossil fuels. In the current work, a novel configuration for heavy paraffin dehydrogenation named as radial-flow membrane reactor (RF-MR) is proposed that combines a membrane concept with the radial-flow pattern for both sweep gas and paraffin feed. To provide this configuration, we divided the cross section area of the industrial radial-flow tubular reactor (RF-TR) into some subsections. Moreover, a system for hydrogen production is developed in this reactor based on separating hydrogen from the reaction side through a thin layer of Pd–Ag membrane, covering the gaps wall. Different major operational variables, including inlet molar flow rates of the reaction and permeation side streams, catalyst mass, H2/HC molar ratio, and membrane thickness are numerically studied to evaluate the performance of RF-MR. Dynamic modeling results show an average 118.9 ton/day olefin production during 29 d of operation, which is a gain of 28.33% over an RF-TR, using the same catalyst loading and duty. Besides, the ultrapure hydrogen production rate of RF-MR in permeation side is ∼3.21 tons/day.