Membrane Based Gas-Liquid Dispersion Integrated in Fixed-Bed Reactor: A Highly Efficient Technology for Heterogeneous Catalysis

A fixed-bed reactor with an external multichannel ceramic membrane for generation of gas-liquid microdispersion system is developed for heterogeneous catalysis. The reactor performance is evaluated by using glycerol hydrogenolysis to 1,2-propanediol over Cu-ZnO as the model reaction. Results highlight that the introduction of membrane with suitable pore size and channels is highly efficient for glycerol hydrogenolysis. Compared to the traditional feeding, the use of ceramic membrane allows a uniform microbubble-in-liquid dispersion system with higher gas holdup, and as a result, the glycerol conversion significantly increases from 84.9% to 97.4% with only half of the hydrogen consumption. The glycerol conversion of 92% and the 1,2-propanediol selectivity of 93% can be achieved in a 52 h continuous run. Our study demonstrates the advantages of the membrane dispersion based fixed-bed reactor in a continuous heterogeneous catalytic reaction.