Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-05-07

Development of Inorganic Membrane Reactors for Selective Oxidation of Hydrocarbons to Oxygenates in particular n-Butane to Maleic Anhydride

Objective



Objectives and content

Oxidation of hydrocarbons to oxygenates is normally limited by low selectivity due to carbon dioxide formation and by conversion, so the resulting yield is often below 80-90%.

The present research programme focuses on the selective oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride where the yield is even below 60%.

Maleic anhydride is an important intermediary in the manufacture of unsaturated polyester resins and the production increases by several per cent annually.

It is the aim of this research programme to develop a reactor based on ceramic membranes where the reaction between butane and air/oxygen takes place either on a catalyst within the membrane tube or at a catalytic surface created within the membrane wall. It is expected that the selectivities achievable in such reactors will be above 90%. The catalyst will be optimized for the membrane reactor. Methods for deposition of catalyst in the membrane reactor wall will be developed and the catalysts and membranes will be thoroughly characterized before and after membrane reactor studies. A package for the design of a pilot or demonstration membrane reactor will be the end product of the project.

It is widely recognized that an industrial breakthrough in the use of high temperature membrane reactors mainly depends on whether or not highly perm-selective and stable membranes will be developed.
Overall, this should lead to a substantially improved process with lower investment costs and lower consumption figures. Besides the increased selectivity, the latter will also involve a substantially reduced emission of carbon dioxide.

The expected development should be transferable to other selective oxidation reactions such as the production of phthalic anhydride and acrylonitrile.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

Data not available

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

HALDOR TOPSOEE A/S
EU contribution
No data
Address
55,Nymoellevej 55
2800 LYNGBY
Denmark

See on map

Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Participants (6)

My booklet 0 0