MAXIMIZATION OF STYRENE YIELD FROM THE CATALYTIC DEHYDROGENATION OF ETHYLBENZENE IN FIXED AND FLUIDIZED BED CONFIGURATIONS WITH AND WITHOUT SELECTIVE MEMBRANES

摘要

A rigorous heterogeneous model was used to extract intrinsic kinetic parameters for the catalytic dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene on different promoted iron oxide catalysts. A pseudohomogeneous model was used to extract intrinsic kinetics for three in-house prepared catalysts. The extracted intrinsic kinetics were used in a heterogeneous fixed bed model based on the dusty gas model (Stefan-Maxwell equations) to simulate the industrial reactor. A two-phase model, which takes into account the change of the number of moles associated with the reaction, was used to investigate the possibility of using fiuidized configurations to conduct this dehydrogenation reaction. The two models were then used to investigate the advantages of using selective membranes for the removal of the produced hydrogen from reaction mixture. It was found that maximization of styrene yield is possible through the proper design and selection of reactor configurations, catalysts and operating conditions.