Kinetic Study of Methanol Dehydration to Dimethyl Ether in Catalytic Packed Bed Reactor over Resin ()
ABSTRACT
Dimethyl ether (DME) is considered as a significant
fuel alternative with a critical manufacturing process. Only a few authors have
presented the kinetic analysis of attractive and alternative catalysts to Al2O3 and/or zeolite in DME production, despite the fact that there is a large
library of kinetic studies for these commercial catalysts. The purpose of this
research was to contribute to this direction by conducting a catalytic test to
determine kinetic parameters for methanol dehydration over sulfonic acid
catalysts (resin). However, due to the relevance of the mathematical
description of this process in the industry was also studied, a study of
kinetics parameters and mathematical modeling of methanol dehydration in an
atmospheric gas phase in a fixed bed reactor with a temperature range (90°C - 120°C) was examined. The Langmuir-Hinshelwood
(L-H) model provides the best fit to experimental data, with an excellent R2 = 0.9997, and the experimental results were compared to those predicted by
these models with very small deviations. The kinetic parameters were found to be in good agreement with the
Arrhenius equation, with acceptable straight-line graphs. The activation
energy E was computed and found to be 27.66 kJ/mole, with an average variation of 0.32 percent between the predicted and calculated results. Simple mathematical continuum models (plug
flow reactor PFR) showed an acceptable agreement with the experimental data.
Share and Cite:
Hadi, G. and Hadi, A. (2022) Kinetic Study of Methanol Dehydration to Dimethyl Ether in Catalytic Packed Bed Reactor over Resin.
Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering,
10, 45-58. doi:
10.4236/msce.2022.106005.