Oxidative coupling of methane in porous Vycor membrane reactors

Porous Vycor membrane tubes were used in shell-and-tube type membrane reactors to study the effect on the oxidative coupling of methane of metering the oxygen into the catalyst bed. Experimental studies showed that under conditions of complete oxygen conversion, Vycor membrane reactors packed with Sm2O3 catalyst exhibited enhanced hydrocarbon (C-2) selectivity. C-2 yields were comparable to those of the conventional co-feed packed bed reactors operated under the same conditions. The higher C-2 selectivity in the membrane reactors indicated that, for methane coupling, regulating the supply of oxygen along the length of the packed bed may be beneficial to C-2 formation.