Development of Hydrogen Permselective Membranes for Propylene Production

Silica hybrid membranes have been developed for a membrane reactor for a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) reaction using a counter diffusion chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The effects of the alkyl chains in the silica precursor were investigated to control the membrane properties. Membrane reactor tests using a CVD silica membrane were performed. An ethyltrimethoxysilane (ETMOS)-derived membrane deposited at 500°C showed a high H2/C3H8 selectivity of 650. The C3H8 conversion was 53% with C3H6 selectivity of 69% for the 600°C reaction in the membrane reactor. The conversion was slightly higher than that at equilibrium.