Leveraging green electricity to drive propylene production in membrane reactors

Jord P. Haven, Leon Lefferts, Arian Nijmeijer, Aloijsius G.J. van der Ham and Jimmy A. Faria Albanese

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2025, vol. 212, issue C

Abstract: This work assessed the potential for applying ceramic proton-conducting membranes in propane dehydrogenation processes with the aim of achieving drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the United Nations' climate action sustainable development goal. These hydrogen removing membranes could shift the dehydrogenation equilibrium towards propylene, thereby significantly increasing the process energy efficiency, and allow the electrification of the propylene production process. The potential of two different membrane reactor systems was explored, consisting of (i) mixed proton-electron conducting (MPEC) membranes and (ii) proton-conducting electrolysis cell (PCEC) membranes. Both membrane-assisted processes were benchmarked against the conventional Honeywell UOP Oleflex process for propylene production, resulting in a comparison between these three processes. Rigorous techno-economic analysis indicated that the MPEC process requires an exceedingly large membrane surface area, making it the least competitive option. In contrast, the electrically heated PCEC process could be an attractive alternative to traditional Oleflex, as it had a 20 % lower capital investment and a 30 % lower specific energy input than Oleflex. However, this only translated into a lower carbon footprint when fully renewable electricity was utilized and when off-gas streams rich in hydrocarbons were not used for heat integration. Notably, electrification of the Oleflex process led to comparable improvements in carbon dioxide emissions as industrial implementation of PCEC membranes. Moreover, guidelines were established regarding PCEC performance criteria, electricity price and carbon intensity, and the carbon taxation required to stimulate industrialization of electrified PCEC processes.

Keywords: Propane dehydrogenation; Process intensification; Process electrification; Membrane reactors; Sustainable design; Techno-economic study; Carbon footprint (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032125001212
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:212:y:2025:i:c:s1364032125001212

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2025.115448

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().