Knoevenagel condensation reaction in zeolite membrane microreactor

The performance of a membrane microreactor was tested and compared with that of a microreactor, a packed bed reactor (PBR) and a packed bed membrane reactor (PBMR) for the Knoevenagel condensation reaction of benzaldehyde and ethyl cyanoacetate to produce ethyl 2-cyano-3-phenylacrylate. Cs-exchanged NaX faujasite zeolite was used as the base catalyst for this equilibrium-limited reaction. Hydrophilic ZSM-5 membranes were employed in both the membrane microreactor and the PBMR for the selective removal of water byproduct from the reaction. The product yield per pass was low for the packed bed reactor. Higher yields were observed for the microreactor and PBMR, but the best performance belongs to the membrane microreactor, which displayed both supra-equilibrium conversion and better product purity. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.