Performance of Membrane Reactors in Isomerization Processes

Nowadays, isomerization process plays an important role in producing valuable products in different industries. These reactions are limited by thermodynamic equilibrium and reaching beyond the equilibrium conversion and high selectivity in conventional reactors is not achievable. Therefore, using new technologies such as membrane reactors, for increasing the efficiency of this process is necessary. In this paper, isomerization of linear and cyclic hydrocarbons in membrane reactors was investigated and their performance was evaluated in comparison with conventional catalytic reactors which consist from zeolite membranes MFI and zoelite catalyst, according to the results presented in literature. The obtained results showed that in these reactors, membrane plays a vital role in increasing the reaction rate, selectivity, better controlling of the reaction, reducing in energy consumption and increasing the final efficiency of the reaction.