RAPID Funded Projects

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Para-xylene Selective Membrane Reactor

The current approach to p-xylene production includes an isomerization step that gives a nearly equilibrium distribution of mixed xylenes, followed by a separate step to recover p-xylene, then recycling of p-xylene depleted product for further isomerization. This project aims to develop and validate para-xylene ultra-selective zeolite membranes and integrate them with an appropriately designed isomerization catalyst in a membrane reactor to accomplish selective para-xylene production.

Investigators

Michael Tsapatsis

Partner Organizations

University of Minnesota ExxonMobil Research & Engineering Company

Focus Areas

Date approved

November 01, 2017
Current TRL
3

Dynamic Intensification of Chemical Processes

A significant portion of commodity products are manufactured in large facilities that operate at steady state. In many ways, the traditional chemical industry has reached a plateau in terms of productivity and energy efficiency in such facilities. Improvements based on existing technologies and unit operations are mostly incremental and unable to address fundamental transport limitations that drive process efficiency.

Investigators

Michael Baldea
Associate Professor and Frank A. Liddell, Jr. Centennial Fellow

Partner Organizations

University of Texas at Austin Dow

Focus Areas

Date approved

April 01, 2017
Current TRL
3

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