A novel NiP–Cu composite membrane reactor for catalytic dehydrogenation of ethanol

A NiP–Cu multi-layer composite membrane was prepared by an improved technique of electroless plating with metal-activation paste and applied to membrane reactor of ethanol dehydrogenation. The results showed that the yields of acetaldehyde observed over a NiP–Cu composite membrane reactor were obviously higher than those observed over a Ni–P membrane reactor due to catalytic activity of NiP–Cu membrane itself. Meanwhile the effect of the reaction temperature, sweeping argon rate and space time, W/F, on the ethanol conversion and the selectivity of acetaldehyde are investigated, and the mechanism of catalytic dehydrogenation for ethanol going through NiP–Cu composite membrane was analyzed. The surface morphology and bulk structure of NiP–Cu composite membrane were characterized by means of technique such as SEM and XRD.