The Effect of Zeolite Features on the Dehydration Reaction of Methanol to Dimethyl Ether: Catalytic Behaviour and Kinetics

The synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME) is an important step in the production of chemical intermediate because it is possible to prepare it by direct hydrogenation of CO(2). This paper reports the effect of different zeolitic frameworks (such as: BEA, EUO, FER, MFI, MOR, MTW, TON) on methanol conversion, DME selectivity and catalyst deactivation. The effect of crystal size, Si/Al ratio and acidity of the investigated catalysts have been also studied. Finally, the kinetic parameters (such as: ∆H, ∆S and ∆G) have been evaluated together with pre-exponential factor and activation energy for catalysts with FER and MFI structure topology.