Relationship between surface acidity and activity of solid-acid catalysts in vapour phase dehydration of methanol

A series of solid-acid catalysts comprised of γ-alumina and modified γ-alumina with different of silica were prepared by co-precipitation method. The catalysts were characterized using XRD, TGA, NH 3-TPD and BET techniques. Dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether (DME) on solid-acid catalysts was...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Fuel processing technology 2009-09, Vol.90 (9), p.1093-1098
Main Authors: Mollavali, M., Yaripour, F., Mohammadi-Jam, Sh, Atashi, H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohols: methanol, ethanol, etc
Alternative fuels. Production and utilization
Applied sciences
Co-precipitation
Dimethyl ether (DME)
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Fuels
Methanol dehydration
Silica modified γ-alumina
Solid-acid catalysts
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Summary:A series of solid-acid catalysts comprised of γ-alumina and modified γ-alumina with different of silica were prepared by co-precipitation method. The catalysts were characterized using XRD, TGA, NH 3-TPD and BET techniques. Dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether (DME) on solid-acid catalysts was studied in a fixed-bed reactor at the same operating conditions ( T = 300 °C, P = 16 bar, WHSV = 26.07 h − 1 ). According to the experimental results, silica-modified catalysts have shown better performance compared to the pure γ-alumina. It was found that surface areas increase with increasing silica loading. The results of NH 3-TPD analysis showed that the surface acidity of aluminosilicate catalysts increases with increase in SiO 2/Al 2O 3 molar ratio. Also, it was found that the catalysts with highest portion of weak and/or moderate acid sites exhibit the best catalytic performance and stability. The sample with 3 wt.% silica loading has exhibited the best activity for methanol conversion.
ISSN:0378-3820
1873-7188
DOI:10.1016/j.fuproc.2009.04.018