Ceramic membranes have good pore size uniformity, and good thermal and mechanical properties. They can be used at high temperatures (1000 C) and in the corrosive environments often found in the chemical industry. They have the additional advantage that they can be thermally treated (500 C), steam cleaned and sterilized. Many industrial catalytic reactions show low conversion and/or yields due either to unfavorable thermodynamics, product inhibition or undesirable side reactions. This in turn necessitates more severe operating conditions (which in turn require higher catalyst replacement rates) and costly separation operations. Catalytic membrane reactors, units in which the membrane is an integral part of the reactor, combine reaction and separation in a single unit operation. Such units have the advantage that the membrane provides for selective removal of one or more products and/or stable intermediates in parallel with the reaction, thus driving the reaction continuously towards the product side and resulting in higher conversions. With higher conversion, the process can be run at lower pressure and temperature, resulting in longer catalyst life, reduced recycle, and reduced downstream separation requirements. The membrane also enables control of surface concentrations and therefore selectivity and product distribution. It is the primary goal of this Industry University Cooperative Research (IUCR) project to test the applicability of ceramic membrane reactor technology in the area of oil and asphaltene hydro processing. Two types of alumina ceramic membranes will be studied, membranes prepared by anodic oxidation of aluminum and membranes prepared by the Sol-Gel technique. Both kinds of membranes have a virtually unimodal pore size distribution and show excellent separatory functions. They have different surface properties and different pore structures and could therefore have different capabilities and/or uses.
