The Synthesis and Catalytic Activity of Slurry Catalyst for Methanol Dehydration to Dimethyl Ether

Abstract

A series of slurry catalysts for dehydration of methanol were prepared by liquid-phase technology, in which the main innovative thought lies in preparing the slurry catalysts directly from solution. The catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and temperature programmed desorption of ammonia. It was found that the main crystal phase of slurry catalysts was AlOOH. Also, it was observed that slurry catalyst had a high surface area and pore volume. Activity tests indicated that the slurry catalysts have shown better performance than the γ-Al2O3: the highest methanol conversion was 84.4%, dimethyl ether selectivity nearly reached 100%. This catalyst showed a good stability during the reaction of 500 h.

Keywords:

• dimethyl ether
• liquid-phase technology
• methanol dehydration
• slurry reactor