Process Intensification

“Process Intensification” (PI) aims to increase the efficiency of processes in the chemical industry by making the typical scale of a process much smaller. Our work focuses on three specific development:

•  Membrane reactors for efficient hydrogen production using H₂-selective membranes
• Energy efficient distillation using heat integrated columns and other structured separator
• Structured reactors for selective gas/liquid reaction

More about Process and System Technology group >>

What is Process Intensification? >>

Membrane reactors

Many reactions in the chemical industry are equilibrium limited. A membrane reactor is a typical example of process intensification where reaction and separation are combined to overcome the equilibrium. For hydrogen production from natural gas, one of the best known equilibrium processes in industry, the main advantage lies in a much lower operating temperature. At ECN we have demonstrated high conversions at moderate temperatures (<500 ^oC) for a single-membrane reactor and are now developing a novel fully integrated multi-tube membrane reactor concept.  Read more on these results and our reactor technology using palladium based membranes >>

Structured separations

The distillation column is the working horse of the chemical industry. Separating components by distillation however requires large amounts of energy. An innovative concept which can reduce the energy consumption of the distillation column considerably is the HIDiC concept which combines heat exchange and distillation in one process. We have recently tested together with TU Delft and industrial partners a unique structured HIDiC >>

Structured reactors

One of the most important step in the chemical industry is functionalised oxidation. However, oxidation reactions are difficult to control. Instead of making just the desired product, an oxidation reaction typically leads to a whole series of by-products. Our work focuses on controlling oxidation reactions in structured reactors with typical channel dimensions of several millimeters. We are currently testing various oxidation processes. Our infrastructure allows for high temperature and high pressure testing with air and with pure oxygen >>

Learn about other PI technologies  >>