With the development of new, highly selective ceramic membranes the possibility of using
them in high temperature membrane reactors came into scope. Hence, a large amount of research
is currently being done on a world-wide scale on these reactors. An extensive review of
current research on membrane reactors was given in a recent paper by Bredesen [1] and by
Saracco et al. In somewhat older work, Saracco and Specchia [3] and Zaman and Chakma [4]
provided good reviews on the use of membrane reactors as well. Saracco and Specchia focused
on catalytic membrane reactors while Zaman and Chakma paid more attention to membrane
synthesis. Armor [5] gave a good review on membrane catalysis and defined the current
problems. In this chapter an overview is given on the general ideas of membrane reactors and
types of reactions under investigation in the world.