Preparation and Activity Measurement of a Bifunctional Catalyst for Direct Conversion of Synthesis Gas to Di-methyl ether as a Clean Fuel for Diesel Engines

In the present study the reaction kinetic and dynamic modeling of the reactor for synthesis gas transformation into dimethyl ether using a mixture of a metallic oxides (CuO, ZnO, Al(2)O(3)), and an acidic component (gamma-Al(2)O(3)) as the catalyst has been investigated. A combination of the Graff kinetic model for methanol synthesis and the Bercic model for methanol dehydration was correlated with the experimental results obtained in this study. Activity and kinetic measurements were carried out using a catalytic fixed bed micro reactor. The operating temperature range was 230-300 degrees C and the pressure was 8 bar guage The experimental runs were performed applying a wide range of catalyst to feed ratios. A simple dynamic model for the reactor performance was developed and tested with the experimental data. The mean absolute deviation, concerning the data for the steady state conditions, was less than 8%.