Patent ID: 7485161

Claim:
In a process for the delivery of hydrogen from an organic compound capable of reversible hydrogenation/dehydrogenation wherein the organic compound is initially in its hydrogenated form and subsequently catalytically dehydrogenated under dehydrogenation conditions in a reactor forming hydrogen and byproduct dehydrogenated organic compound, the improvement in the dehydrogenation step which comprises: (a) introducing said organic compound capable of reversible hydrogenation/dehydrogenation in liquid form to a microchannel reactor incorporating a dehydrogenation catalyst; (b) effecting dehydrogenation of said organic compound under liquid phase conditions whereby said organic compound and said byproduct dehydrogenated organic compound remain in the liquid phase; (c) recovering a reaction product comprised of a byproduct dehydrogenated organic compound and gaseous hydrogen; (d) separating the reaction product comprised of said liquid phase dehydrogenated organic compound and gaseous hydrogen into a gaseous hydrogen fraction and liquid phase byproduct dehydrogenated organic compound; (e) recovering the gaseous hydrogen; and, (f) recovering the liquid byproduct dehydrogenated organic compound.