Methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation for hydrogen production via a bimodal catalytic membrane reactor

The dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane (MCH) to toluene (TOL) for hydrogen production was theoretically and experimentally investigated in a bimodal catalytic membrane reactor (CMR), that combined Pt/Al 2 O 3 catalysts with a hydrogen‐selective organosilica membrane prepared via sol‐gel processing using bis(triethoxysilyl) ethane (BTESE). Effects of operating conditions on the membrane reactor performance were systematically investigated, and the experimental results were in good agreement with those calculated by a simulation model with a fitted catalyst loading. With H 2 extraction from the reaction stream to the permeate stream, MCH conversion at 250°C was significantly increased beyond the equilibrium conversion of 0.44–0.86. Because of the high H 2 selectivity and permeance of BTESE‐derived membranes, a H 2 flow with purity higher than 99.8% was obtained in the permeate stream, and the H 2 recovery ratio reached 0.99 in a pressurized reactor. A system that combined the CMR with a fixed‐bed prereactor was proposed for MCH dehydrogenation.