Novel Integrated Membrane Auto-Thermal Reactors (NIMATRs) for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

Membrane-based reactive separation (membrane reactor) processes, which establish the theme of this book chapter, are an exceptional discussion of the wider field of membrane-based separation processes. The combination of Mixed Ionic Electronic Conducting (MIEC) membranes for the reactive separation for different components production via auto-thermal reforming reactions will be displayed in the present chapter. This chapter will address sustainability from the point of view of energy efficiency using novel reactors configuration to achieve auto-thermic by using NIMATRs for different kinds of Exothermic (Exo) and Endothermic (Endo) reactions as well as shifting the equilibrium reversibility constants for reversible Endo reactions giving rise to higher conversions through selective removal of one of the products, usually, hydrogen associated with Dehydrogenation (Dehyd) reactions, for example, catalytic Dehyd of Ethyl Benzene (EB) to Styrene (S) which will be usually coupled with a Hydrogenation (Hyd) reaction which is Exo and will provide its Exo heat to the EB to S side and using a hydrogen-selective membrane this EB to S side of the integrated reactor will provide hydrogen to the Hyd side, which can be Benzene (B) to Cyclo-Hexane (CH) or economically preferable is Nitro Benzene (NB) to Aniline (A). In this case, the walls between the two fixed bed catalytic reactors will be membranes selective to hydrogen and conducive to heat. The challenge in this design is the heat driving force from the Hyd side to the Dehyd side, while the driving force of hydrogen is not a big challenge because hydrogen is continuously produced in the Dehyd side and quickly consumed in the Hyd side. It is shown in this chapter that the best configuration for these reactions is the counter-current design which achieves Maximum Production and Minimum Pollution (MPMP), which is necessary for Sustainability but not sufficient because it does not use Renewable Raw Materials (RRMs). Research is needed to find routes for the required inputs of EB and NB from RRMs, and the structure will formulate a new Integrated Bio-Refinery (IBR). This will be explained in the chapter with the proposed research plan to achieve it. Other systems will be discussed including Exo and Endo reactions with conductive walls between the two reactors but without diffusion of products between them. Other Auto-thermal systems include the Reactor-Regenerator (RR) units; the most successful and famous of them is the Fluid-Catalytic Cracking (FCC) units in the petroleum industry for cracking Gas Oil to high Octane Number Gasoline. The different types of these units and their special operating characteristics will be discussed and also the RR configurations for other reactions. The very special type of membranes to be applied in the auto-thermal reactions will be an important part of the chapter, the preparation, and characterization of the membranes are demonstrated and discussed. In this chapter, we specifically concentrate our attention on the techno-economic appraisal of these novel engineering approaches using the new trends in chemical reactors.