University of Michigan engineers have designed new chemical reactor to make an important ingredient for plastics, adhesives, carpet fibers, household cleaners and more from natural gas. The idea could reduce manufacturing costs in a post-petroleum economy by millions of dollars. The research paper has been published in the journal Science.
It also gives hydrogen a way out, changing the balance between the concentration of propane and reaction products in a way that allows more propylene to be made. Once separated, the hydrogen can also be safely burned away from the propane, heating the reactor enough to speed up the reactions without making any undesirable compounds. This separation is achieved through the reactor’s nested, hollow-fiber membrane tubing.