A novel single-step dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis from syngas

The productivity of liquid phase methanol (LPMeOH{dollar}sp{lcub}rm TM{rcub}){dollar} synthesis reactor is limited by the chemical equilibrium barrier caused by high local methanol concentration in the liquid phase. This barrier can be partially lifted by either selective removal of methanol from the liquid phase or by an in-situ conversion to other chemical species.; A novel process for co-producing dimethyl ether (DME) by in-situ conversion of methanol in the liquid phase has been developed. Two functionally different yet compatible catalysts are slurried in the liquid phase, in this dual catalytic mode of operation. The process LP-DME is thus based on the application of a dual catalyst system in the LPMeOH{dollar}sp{lcub}rm TM{rcub}{dollar} process. A mixture of methanol and DME is produced which overcomes the equilibrium limitation encountered in producing methanol alone. The result is an increase in reactor productivity by a factor of 1.4 to 2 depending on reaction conditions.; The novel DME synthesis process has shown excellent scientific and commercial merit in this process development research. Several key aspects of this process including comparison of DME reactor productivity and syngas conversion to methanol synthesis reactor, dual catalyst deactivation and crystal growth, thermodynamics of the LPDME system, and modeling of the reaction system in a liquid entrained reactor, have been addressed. Based on these studies, a novel process which integrates the steps of syngas to DME and the Mobil MTG has been found to be an effective substitute to producing gasoline from syngas via methanol. This novel DME to gasoline (DTG) has exhibited excellent merits compared to the Mobil MTG process in the areas of reactor productivity, overall conversion and yield, heat of reaction, and reactor size.; The significance of the current research has already been demonstrated in a commercial scenario in that the work has been the subject of two distinct licensed processes.