Alkane dehydrogenation in scalable and electrifiable carbon membrane reactor

Non-oxidative alkane dehydrogenation produces alkene and hydrogen products. The current processes face three challenges: limited conversion due to thermodynamics, rapid catalyst deactivation, and CO2 emissions from process heating. A membrane reactor (MR) has the potential to overcome the thermodynamic limit by removing H2 in situ, but both catalyst and membrane tend to deactivate quickly. Here, we report a carbon membrane reactor that integrates H2-permeable carbon molecular sieve (CMS) hollow fiber membranes and siliceous zeolite-supported metal catalysts. By lowering the reaction temperature using catalysts with a low threshold temperature and by overcoming the thermodynamic limit with CMS membranes, we achieve high conversion and catalyst stability. The electro-conductive nature of the CMS membrane enables joule heating of the reaction, reducing CO2 emissions. We demonstrate a CMS membrane reactor with record-high stability for propylene and ethylene production, the second-and first-largest -volume chemicals used as feedstock globally.