Distributed oxygen delivery via oxygen-permeable hollow fiber membranes for enhanced methane oxidative coupling

Oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reaction through catalytic membrane reactors (CMRs), which use oxygen-permeable membranes, offers a highly promising and energy-efficient pathway for C 2 hydrocarbons production. However, the persistently low C 2 product yield still remains the bottleneck for large-scale industrial commercialization. In this study, we report the construction of CMRs based on BSCF four-channel hollow fiber membranes packed with 2 wt% Mn-5 wt%Na 2 WO 4 /SiO 2 catalysts. A C 2 yield of 21.8% was achieved by realizing a more uniform distribution of reactant O 2 across the membrane, whereas only 12.7% was obtained in the FBR under the same operating conditions. To further enhance the OCM long-term stability performance in CMRs, interfacial buffer layer construction was employed by coating and adhesion to suppress the high-temperature reaction between Sr and SiO 2 at the membrane-catalysts interface. An improved stable performance with minor degradation of 1.35% was obtained in a 200-h test. In addition, scale-up experiments employing 20-cm-long membranes under different flow configurations achieved an optimal C₂ yield of 24.5%, thus further confirming the industrial application advantages of the multi-channel hollow fiber membrane reactor design.