Experimental and Kinetic Model for Enhanced Liquid-Phase Hydrogenation of o-Cresol in a Distributor-Type Multichannel Ceramic Membrane Reactor

The green production process of o-methylcyclohexanol is particularly important due to its widespread industrial applications. Addressing the issue of low mass transfer efficiency of hydrogen in traditional liquid-phase hydrogenation processes, multichannel ceramic membranes as hydrogen dispersion tools are introduced, successfully achieving uniform and efficient dispersion of hydrogen in the o-cresol cyclohexane solution, thereby promoting the efficient hydrogenation of o-cresol to o-methylcyclohexanol within a fixed-bed reactor. The results show that compared to conventional single-tube feeding methods, the introduction of ceramic membranes significantly enhances the o-cresol conversion and o-methylcyclohexanol selectivity. By optimizing the pore size (200 nm), channel number (19 channels) of the ceramic membranes, and operating conditions, o-cresol conversion and the o-methylcyclohexanol selectivity of no less than 99.5% are achieved under optimal operating conditions. Furthermore, a macro-kinetic model for the membrane-dispersion-enhanced liquid-phase hydrogenation of o-cresol is established, which incorporates an empirical equation for hydrogen solubility. Validation results show that the model-calculated reaction rates of o-cresol are highly consistent with experimental data, with errors controlled within 5%, providing theoretical support for the precise regulation of experimental operating conditions. The work offers a new strategy for the green production of o-methylcyclohexanol.