Oxidation of hydrocarbons in an in situ redox fluidized bed reactor

In this project, a novel system for the selective oxidation of hydrocarbons was proposed and tested for the oxidative coupling of methane. The hypothesis was to create two different zones within the same fluidized bed reactor, instead of the conventional technique of circulating the catalyst between the reactor and an additional vessel (regenerator). This “in situ” redox fluidized bed reactor would have the great advantage of avoiding the transfer of catalyst between two separate beds. However, it also presented the problem of achieving sufficient separation of the oxidation and reduction zones within the same vessel. In this project some results were found showing that this separation could be achieved effectively, provided the proper operating conditions were selected. To the researchers’ knowledge, this was the first work in which the feasibility of separating oxidation and reduction zones in the same reactor under steady-state conditions was experimentally demonstrated.

Project: 94-TEC-05