A membrane catalytic bed concept for naphtha reforming in the presence of catalyst deactivation

In this work, theoretical investigation has been used to evaluate the performance, optimal operating conditions and increasing the aromatic production in a Pd–Ad membrane reactor for catalytic naphtha reforming. A reactor configuration has been used with perm-selective Pd–Ag (23 wt% Ag) wall to hydrogen. The reactants are flowing through the tube side and hydrogen is flowing through the shell side. Hydrogen penetrates from reaction side into the carrier gas due to the hydrogen partial pressure driving force. Hydrogen permeation through membrane leads to shift the reaction towards the product side according to the thermodynamic equilibrium. In this study the theoretical investigation on the effects of pressure, membrane thickness, temperature, H2/HC ratio and flow rate has been investigated. The changes of aromatic production, H2/HC mole ratio, temperature, catalyst activity and comparison of equilibrium conversion and reactor model have been shown in this research. Also changing in parameters such as temperature, catalyst activity, components mole fractions and the production or consumption rates of species in industrial case have been demonstrated. This work shows how membrane reactor can be useful for catalytic naphtha reforming by enhancement of aromatic production, increase of catalyst activity and hydrogen separation.