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Abstract

The yield of partial oxidation reactions of light hydrocarbons conducted in a catalytic tubular reactor can be significantly improved by distributing the oxygen feed along the reactor length via an inert membrane. In electrochemical membrane reactors (EMR), this is realized by feeding the oxygen across a dense ion conducting membrane to the adjacent porous catalytic layer. In comparison to other membrane reactor concepts, the oxygen flux is faradaically coupled to the external electric current and can therefore be easily controlled. In our contribution, we present a modular reactor model based on mass, charge, and energy balances as well as on various kinetic approaches. Particular focus is on modeling the porous catalyst layer (1D+1D approach) to account for the interaction of mass transport processes and complex kinetics. As model reaction, the selective oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride over a vanadyl pyrophosphate (VPO) catalyst is investigated in a lab scale tubular reactor. The results of steady state experiments for selectivity and yield are used to validate the model and to estimate kinetic parameters. The stationary and transient reactor behavior is simulated and analyzed as function of current density and Damköhler number.