The development of new and the improvement of existing reactor concepts is diffi cult without understanding the reaction mechanism and -if a catalyst is used -its operation principles. In the ideal case an accurate kinetic model with detailed structure -activity relations would be available. However, in industrial practice in general only simplifi ed strategies are applied in order to minimize experimental effort and to reduce the complexity of the corresponding mathematical expressions. Often simplifi ed kinetic models of the power law type are used to describe reaction rates and catalytic performance for a limited parameter range. Nevertheless, for the understanding and the correct prediction of the performance of alternative reactor concepts, as the membrane reactors treated in this book, a more detailed understanding of the kinetic relations is essential. In membrane reactors the concentration profi les of the reactants and the contact time profi les in the catalyst bed are infl uenced simultaneously. A reliable kinetic model has to describe also the reaction behavior for conditions which are far from those present in conventional packed -bed reactors.In order to deliver reliable data for the comparison between conventional and membrane reactors on the one hand, and between different membrane reactor concepts on the other, it is important to study the same reaction system and to apply the same catalyst. In this and the following chapters, the focus is set on the catalyzed oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane ( ODHE ). Although this reaction is currently far from a wide industrial application, it has several advantages for the purpose of this conceptual study:• The expected reaction network is limited to a rather low number of main products and byproducts, which facilitates mechanistic as well as kinetic studies.• There are no condensable products under reaction conditions, which is benefi cial for monitoring the reactor performance with high accuracy.
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