Progress in membrane liquid–liquid reactor—a review

Abstract

Liquid–liquid reactions are crucial in chemical synthesis and industries, such as hydrolysis, oxidation, reduction, nitration, and sulfonation of organic compounds. In recent years, membrane liquid–liquid reactors have drawn great attentions due to the elevated conversion, selectivity, yield, and efficiency. Membrane liquid–liquid reactors can be divided into membrane dispersive reactor and membrane non-dispersive reactor. The membrane dispersive reactor has been employed in the preparation of polymer microspheres and microcapsules. The non-dispersive membrane reactors are widely used in chemical reactions (e.g. consecutive, reversible, and irreversible reactions) and biochemical reactions (e.g. resolution of racemic compounds, and reaction of non-chiral substrate). The feature, applications, advantages, and limits of the membrane liquid–liquid reactors are briefly reviewed.

Keywords:

• Membrane liquid–liquid reactor
• Membrane dispersive reactor
• Membrane non-dispersive reactor
• Liquid–liquid reaction

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 20676016, 21076024), State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, and State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering.