Development of Catalytic Membrane Reactors for Esterification of Lactic Acid and Hydrogenation of Water for Oxygen Removal

Membrane separation processes have shown a lot of advantages in various separations including esterification of lactic acid with ethanol to produce ethyl lactate as well as the removal of dissolved oxygen from sea water for industrial process applications. In this work, the single gas behaviour with porous ceramic membrane was carried out to study the permeation properties of gases through the membrane at the gauge pressure range of 0.10-1.00 bar and between the temperature range of 298-413 K. The single gases used for the investigation include; argon (Ar), helium (He), nitrogen (N₂), carbon dioxide (CO₂), oxygen (O₂) and hydrogen (H₂). The gas permeance with respect to the kinetic diameter showed a non-molecular sieving mechanism of transport. The gas flux was found to increase with increase in gauge pressure in the order; H₂>He>O₂>N₂. The transport of the various species showed a linear dependence with the inverse square ischolar_main of molecular weight confirming Knudsen flow mechanism of transport.