“A Batch Membrane Reactor for Laboratory Studies,” L. A. Bernstein, C. M. Reo, and C. R. F. Lund, J. Membrane Sci., 118, 93, (1996).

The use of a membrane reactor for partial oxidation reactions has been studied through mathematical modeling. The partial oxidation of methane has been used as a test reaction, using kinetic data for V₂O₅/SiO₂ catalysts available in the literature. The reactor design equations have been written in dimensionless form to identify the key parameters for these reactors. A parametric study has been performed to identify the most important parameters and to identify operating regimes wherein membrane reactors may offer an advantage over conventional plug-flow reactors. One very important result is that the permeability of the desired product through the membrane must be approximately four times that of the reactants.