Dimethyl ether: A review of technologies and production challenges

Zoha Azizi1,2, Mohsen Rezaeimanesh2, Tahere Tohidian1, Mohammad Reza Rahimpour1
1School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71348, Iran
2Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Mahshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mahshahr, Iran

Tài liệu tham khảo

Tokay, 2012, Dimethyl ether synthesis over alumina based catalysts, Chem. Eng. J., 184, 278, 10.1016/j.cej.2011.12.034 Chen, 2012, One-step synthesis of dimethyl ether from the gas mixture containing CO2 with high space velocity, Appl. Energy, 98, 92, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.02.082 Zhang, 2010, Synthesis of dimethyl ether via methanol dehydration over combined Al2O3-HZSM-5 solid-acids, Chin. J. Catal., 31, 987, 10.1016/S1872-2067(10)60098-8 Raoof, 2008, Effects of temperature and feed composition on catalytic dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether over γ-alumina, Fuel, 87, 2967, 10.1016/j.fuel.2008.03.025 Hayer, 2013, Characteristics of integrated micro packed bed reactor-heat exchanger configurations in the direct synthesis of dimethyl ether, Chem. Eng. Process., 70, 77, 10.1016/j.cep.2013.03.021 Ladera, 2012, Supported niobium catalysts for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether: FTIR studies of acid properties, Catal. Today, 192, 136, 10.1016/j.cattod.2012.01.025 Lei, 2011, Synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME) by catalytic distillation, Chem. Eng. Sci., 66, 3195, 10.1016/j.ces.2011.02.034 Ereña, 2011, Kinetic modelling of dimethyl ether synthesis from (H2+CO2) by considering catalyst deactivation, Chem. Eng. J., 174, 660, 10.1016/j.cej.2011.09.067 Rownaghi, 2012, Selective dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether on ZSM-5 nanocrystals, Appl. Catal. B: Environ., 119–120, 56, 10.1016/j.apcatb.2012.02.017 Chen, 2013, Analysis, synthesis, and design of a one-step dimethyl ether production via a thermodynamic approach, Appl. Energy, 101, 449, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.08.025 Rahimpour, 2012, Assessment and comparison of different catalytic coupling exothermic and endothermic reactions: a review, Appl. Energy, 99, 496, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.04.003 Sousa-Aguiar, 2005, Natural gas chemical transformations: the path to refining in the future, Catal. Today, 101, 3, 10.1016/j.cattod.2004.12.003 Gądek, 2013, Production of methanol and dimethyl ether from biomass derived syngas: a comparison of the different synthesis pathways by means of flowsheet simulation Ren, 2006, Direct mass production technique of dimethyl ether from synthesis gas in a circulating slurry bed reactor, Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal., 159, 489, 10.1016/S0167-2991(06)81640-X Cho, 2009, Optimal design and operation of a natural gas tri-reforming reactor for DME synthesis, Catal. Today, 139, 261, 10.1016/j.cattod.2008.04.051 Kima, 2010, Simulation of commercial dimethyl ether production plant Yang, 2011, A double-shell capsule catalyst with core–shell-like structure for one-step exactly controlled synthesis of dimethyl ether from CO2 containing syngas, Catal. Today, 171, 229, 10.1016/j.cattod.2011.02.021 Gates, 1971, Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetics of the dehydration of methanol catalyzed by cation exchange resins, AIChE J., 17, 981, 10.1002/aic.690170435 Kiviranta-Paakkonen, 1998, Dehydration of the alcohol in the etherification of isoamylenes with methanol and ethanol, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 37, 18, 10.1021/ie970454d Hosseininejad, 2012, Catalytic and kinetic study of methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether, Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 90, 825, 10.1016/j.cherd.2011.10.007 Bondiera, 1991, Kinetics of methanol dehydration in dealuminated H-mordenite: model with acid and base active centres, Appl. Catal., 69, 139, 10.1016/S0166-9834(00)83297-2 Ng, 1999, Kinetics and modelling of dimethyl ether synthesis from synthesis gas, Chem. Eng. Sci., 54, 3587, 10.1016/S0009-2509(98)00514-4 Hayer, 2011, Synthesis of dimethyl ether from syngas in a microchannel reactor—simulation and experimental study, Chem. Eng. J., 167, 610, 10.1016/j.cej.2010.09.080 Wang, 2006, Influence of reaction conditions on methanol synthesis and WGS reaction in the syngas-to-DME process, J. Nat. Gas Chem., 15, 38, 10.1016/S1003-9953(06)60005-4 Kohl, 1994 Sosna, 2009, Dimethyl ether production process, Chin. J. Chem. Eng., 17, 108 Shen, 2000, Thermodynamic investigation of methanol and dimethyl ether synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation, Korean J. Chem. Eng., 17, 210, 10.1007/BF02707145 Nie, 2005, Instrinsic kinetics of dimethyl ether synthesis from syngas, J. Nat. Gas Chem., 14, 22 Yuanyuan, 2009, Modeling and simulation of production process on dimethyl ether synthesized from coal-based syngas by one-step method, Chin. J. Chem. Eng., 17, 108, 10.1016/S1004-9541(09)60041-0 Wang, 2013, Synthesis of dimethyl ether from syngas using a hierarchically porous composite zeolite as the methanol dehydration catalyst, J. Fuel Chem. Technol., 41, 873, 10.1016/S1872-5813(13)60037-7 You, 2009, Synthesis of dimethyl ether from methane mediated by HBr, J. Nat. Gas Chem., 18, 306, 10.1016/S1003-9953(08)60122-X An, 2008, Dimethyl ether synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation on a CuO–ZnO–Al2O/HZSM-5 Bi-functional Catalyst, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 47, 6547, 10.1021/ie800777t Wang, 2009, Dimethyl ether synthesis via CO2 hydrogenation over CuO–TiO2–ZrO2/HZSM-5 bi-functional catalysts, Catal. Commun., 10, 1367, 10.1016/j.catcom.2009.02.001 Iliuta, 2011, Sorption-enhanced dimethyl ether synthesis—multiscale reactor modeling, Chem. Eng. Sci., 66, 2241, 10.1016/j.ces.2011.02.047 Olah, 1985, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 107, 7097, 10.1021/ja00310a057 Prakash, 2009, Poly(4-vinylpyridine) catalyzed hydrolysis of methyl bromide to methanol and dimethyl ether, J. Mol. Catal. A: Chem., 310, 180, 10.1016/j.molcata.2009.06.018 Zha, 2013, Multi-walled carbon nanotubes as catalyst promoter for dimethyl ether synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation, Appl. Surf. Sci. Lavric, 2005, Chemical reactors energy integration through virtual heat exchangers-benefits and drawbacks, Appl. Therm. Eng., 1033, 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2004.06.026 Tavan, 2013, From laboratory experiments to simulation studies of methanol dehydration to produce dimethyl ether—Part I. Reaction kinetic study, Chem. Eng. Process. Froment, 1990 Ereña, 2005, Effect of operating conditions on the synthesis of dimethyl ether over a CuO-ZnO-Al2O3/NaHZSM-5 bifunctional catalyst, Catal. Today, 107–108, 467, 10.1016/j.cattod.2005.07.116 Fogler, 1992 Lee, 2006, Simulation of fixed bed reactor for dimethyl ether synthesis, Korean J. Chem. Eng., 23, 522, 10.1007/BF02706789 Lu, 2004, Simulation and experiment study of dimethyl ether synthesis from syngas in a fluidized-bed reactor, Chem. Eng. Sci., 59, 5455, 10.1016/j.ces.2004.07.031 Ogawa, 2003, Direct dimethyl ether synthesis, J. Nat. Gas Chem., 12, 219 Wang, 2001, The synergy effect of process coupling for dimethyl ether synthesis in slurry reactors, Chem. Eng. Technol., 24, 507, 10.1002/1521-4125(200105)24:5<507::AID-CEAT507>3.0.CO;2-0 Wang, 2003, Advances in one-step synthesis of dimethyl ether from syngas, Ind. Catal., 11, 34 Tan, 2005, Effect of V2O5/Sm2O3 modification on alumina performance for slurry phase dimethyl ether synthesis, J. Fuel Chem. Technol., 33, 602 Moradi, 2007, Effect of the hybrid catalysts preparation method upon direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from synthesis gas, Catal. Commun., 8, 598, 10.1016/j.catcom.2006.08.023 Bakopoulos, 2006, Multiphase fluidization in large-scale slurry jet loop bubble columns for methanol and or dimethyl ether production, Chem. Eng. Sci., 61, 538, 10.1016/j.ces.2005.06.035 Moradi, 2007, Determination of the optimum operating conditions for direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from syngas, Int. J. Chem. Reactor Eng., 5, A14, 10.2202/1542-6580.1367 Papari, 2012, Mathematical modeling of a slurry reactor for DME direct synthesis from syngas, J. Nat. Gas Chem., 21, 148, 10.1016/S1003-9953(11)60347-2 Ray, 1987, Particle attrition phenomena in a fluidized bed, Powder Technol., 49, 193, 10.1016/0032-5910(87)80128-6 Petukhov, 2003, A new apparatus for particle impact tests, Part. Part. Syst. Char., 24, 267, 10.1002/ppsc.200390032 Lu, 2003, Theoretical analysis of fluidized-bed reactor for dimethyl ether synthesis from syngas, Int. J. Chem. Reactor Eng., 1, 10.2202/1542-6580.1086 Rahimpour, 2011, Enhancement of hydrogen production via coupling of MCH dehydrogenation reaction and methanol synthesis process by using thermally coupled heat exchanger reactor, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 36, 3371, 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.12.073 Bayat, 2012, A comparative study of two different configurations for exothermic–endothermic heat exchanger reactor, Chem. Eng. Process., 52, 63, 10.1016/j.cep.2011.11.010 Khademi, 2011, Start-up and dynamic analysis of a novel thermally coupled reactor for the simultaneous production of methanol and benzene, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 50, 12092, 10.1021/ie201090b Nasehi, 2007 Farsi, 2011, Modeling, simulation and control of dimethyl ether synthesis in an industrial fixed-bed reactor, Chem. Eng. Process., 50, 85, 10.1016/j.cep.2010.11.013 Vakili, 2011, Utilizing differential evolution (DE) technique to optimize operating conditions of an integrated thermally coupled direct DME synthesis reactor, Chem. Eng. J., 168, 321, 10.1016/j.cej.2011.01.032 Vakili, 2012, Optimal design of an industrial scale dual-type reactor for direct dimethyl ether (DME) production from syngas, Chem. Eng. Process., 62, 78, 10.1016/j.cep.2012.09.005 Vakili, 2011, The effect of flow type patterns in a novel thermally coupled reactor for simultaneous direct dimethyl ether (DME) and hydrogen production, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 36, 4354, 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.12.135 Vakili, 2011, Direct dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis through a thermally coupled heat exchanger reactor, Appl. Energy, 88, 1211, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.10.023 Khademi, 2011, DME synthesis and cyclohexane dehydrogenation reaction in an optimized thermally coupled reactor, Chem. Eng. Process., 50, 113, 10.1016/j.cep.2010.12.004 Farsi, 2011, Mathematical simulation and optimization of methanol dehydration and cyclohexane dehydrogenation in a thermally coupled dual-membrane reactor, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 36, 14416, 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.08.019 Vakili, 2012, Incorporating differential evolution (DE) optimization strategy to boost hydrogen and DME production rate through a membrane assisted single-step DME heat exchanger reactor, J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng., 9, 28, 10.1016/j.jngse.2012.05.006 Skinner, 2011, Ethanol dehydration to ethylene in a stratified autothermal millisecond reactor, ChemSusChem, 4, 1151, 10.1002/cssc.201100026 Sun, 2011, Methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether in a staged autothermal millisecond residence time reactor, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 404, 81 Kiss, 2011, Heat-integrated reactive distillation process for synthesis of fatty esters, Fuel Process. Technol., 92, 1288, 10.1016/j.fuproc.2011.02.003 Olujic, 2009, Equipment improvement trends in distillation, Chem. Eng. Process., 48, 1089, 10.1016/j.cep.2009.03.004 Harmsen, 2010, Process intensification in the petrochemicals industry: drivers and hurdles for commercial implementation, Chem. Eng. Process., 49, 70, 10.1016/j.cep.2009.11.009 Dejanovic, 2010, Dividing wall column—a break-through towards sustainable distilling, Chem. Eng. Process., 49, 559, 10.1016/j.cep.2010.04.001 Petlyuk, 1965, Thermodynamically optimal method for separating multicomponent mixtures, Int. Chem. Eng., 5, 555 Isopescu, 2008, Energy reduction in a divided wall distillation column, Rev. Chim., 59, 812, 10.37358/RC.08.7.1900 Kiss, 2012, Innovative dimethyl ether synthesis in a reactive dividing-wall column, Comput. Chem. Eng., 38, 74, 10.1016/j.compchemeng.2011.11.012 Liu, 2011, Methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether in a platelet milli-reactor filled with H-ZSM5/SiC foam catalyst, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 409–410, 113, 10.1016/j.apcata.2011.09.035 Tsotsis, 1992, Packed bed catalytic membrane reactor, Chem. Eng. Sci., 47, 2903, 10.1016/0009-2509(92)87149-K Sea, 2006, Synthesis of dimethyl ether from methanol using alumina–silica membrane reactor, Desalination, 200, 689, 10.1016/j.desal.2006.03.467 Samimi, 2013, A novel axial-flow spherical packed-bed membrane reactor for dimethyl ether synthesis: simulation and optimization, J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng., 13, 42, 10.1016/j.jngse.2013.03.001 Diban, 2013, Influence of the membrane properties on the catalytic production of dimethyl ether with in situ water removal for the successful capture of CO2, Chem. Eng. J., 234, 140, 10.1016/j.cej.2013.08.062 Volkov, 2012, Catalytic conversion of methanol to dimethyl ether on polymer/ceramic composite membranes, Catal. Today, 193, 31, 10.1016/j.cattod.2012.05.017 Ding, 2000, Adsorption-enhanced steam-methane reforming, Chem. Eng. Sci., 55, 3929, 10.1016/S0009-2509(99)00597-7 Iliuta, 2010, Dimethyl ether synthesis with in situ H2O removal in fixed-bed membrane reactor: model and simulations, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 49, 6870, 10.1021/ie901726u Parvasi, 2009, Dynamic modeling and optimization of a novel methanol synthesis loop with hydrogen-permselective membrane reactor, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 34, 3717, 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.02.062 Rahimpour, 2009, Enhancement of methanol production in a novel fluidized-bed hydrogen-permselective membrane reactor in the presence of catalyst deactivation, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 34, 2208, 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.12.009 Rahimpour, 2011, Reduction in CO emissions along a two-stage hydrogen-permselective membrane reactor in methanol synthesis process, J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 17, 198, 10.1016/j.jiec.2011.02.001 Rahimpour, 2004, Enhancement of CO conversion in a novel Pd–Ag membrane reactor for methanol synthesis, Chem. Eng. Process., 43, 1181, 10.1016/j.cep.2004.02.010 Mardanpour, 2012, Enhancement of dimethyl ether production with application of hydrogen-permselective Pd-based membrane in fluidized bed reactor, J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 18, 1157, 10.1016/j.jiec.2012.01.012 Khademi, 2009, A novel configuration for hydrogen production from coupling of methanol and benzene synthesis in a hydrogen-permselective membrane reactor, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 34, 5091, 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.04.007 Farsi, 2011, Optimal conditions for hydrogen production from coupling of dimethyl ether and benzene synthesis, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 36, 299, 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.10.049 Khademi, 2010, Differential evolution (DE) strategy for optimization of hydrogen production, cyclohexane dehydrogenation and methanol synthesis in a hydrogen-permselective membrane thermally coupled reactor, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 35, 1936, 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.12.080 Khademi, 2009, Optimization of methanol synthesis and cyclohexane dehydrogenation in a thermally coupled reactor using differential evolution (DE) method, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 34, 6930, 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.06.018 Farsi, 2010, Novel recuperative configuration for coupling of methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether with cyclohexane dehydrogenation to benzene, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 49, 4633, 10.1021/ie1000086 Iliuta, 2012, Integrated aqueous-phase glycerol reforming to dimethyl ether synthesis—a novel allothermal dual bed membrane reactor concept, Chem. Eng. J., 187, 311, 10.1016/j.cej.2012.02.001 Samimi, 2014, Mathematical modeling and optimization of DME synthesis in two spherical reactors connected in series, J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng., 17, 33, 10.1016/j.jngse.2013.12.006 Hadipour, 2008, Synthesis of some bifunctional catalysts and determination of kinetic parameters for direct conversion of syngas to dimethyl ether, Chem. Eng. J., 137, 294, 10.1016/j.cej.2007.04.039 Hu, 2008, Simulation and model design of pipe-shell reactor for the direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from syngas, J. Nat. Gas. Chem., 17, 195, 10.1016/S1003-9953(08)60051-1 Gao, 2009, Liquid-phase preparation of catalysts used in slurry reactors to synthesize dimethyl ether from syngas: effect of heat-treatment atmosphere, Fuel Process. Technol., 90, 1442, 10.1016/j.fuproc.2009.06.022 Jin, 2007, Dimethyl ether synthesis via methanol and syngas over rare earth metals modified zeolite Y and dual Cu–Mn–Zn catalysts, Fuel, 86, 2707, 10.1016/j.fuel.2007.03.011 Hosseini, 2011, Synthesis of nanocrystalline γ-Al2O3 by sol-gel and precipitation methods for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether, J. Nat. Gas Chem., 20, 128, 10.1016/S1003-9953(10)60172-7 Lertjiamratn, 2010, Modification of acid properties and catalytic properties of AlPO4 by hydrothermal pretreatment for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 378, 119, 10.1016/j.apcata.2010.02.013 Seo, 2009, Dehydration of methanol over Nordstrandite based catalysts for dimethyl ether synthesis, J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 15, 649, 10.1016/j.jiec.2009.09.037 Mollavali, 2009, Relationship between surface acidity and activity of solid-acid catalysts in vapour phase dehydration of methanol, Fuel Process. Technol., 90, 1093, 10.1016/j.fuproc.2009.04.018 Fu, 2005, Surface acidity and the dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether, Thermochim. Acta, 434, 22, 10.1016/j.tca.2004.12.023 Vishwanathan, 2004, Surface properties and catalytic activity of TiO2–ZrO2 mixed oxides in dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether, Catal. Lett., 96, 23, 10.1023/B:CATL.0000029524.94392.9f Campelo, 2000, Studies of catalyst deactivation in methanol conversion with high, medium and small pore silicoaluminophosphates, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 192, 85, 10.1016/S0926-860X(99)00329-4 Padmaja, 2004, Adsorption isotherm and pore characteristics of nano alumina derived from sol–gel boehmite, J. Porous Mater., 11, 147, 10.1023/B:JOPO.0000038010.54859.2f Kim, 2008, Synthesis and characterization of a highly active alumina catalyst for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 348, 113, 10.1016/j.apcata.2008.06.032 Bakhtiary-Davijany, 2011, Characteristics of an integrated micro packed bed reactor-heat exchanger for methanol synthesis from syngas, Chem. Eng. J., 167, 496, 10.1016/j.cej.2010.08.074 Fei, 2004, Effect of the addition of manganese and zinc on the properties of copper-based catalyst for the synthesis of syngas to dimethyl ether, Energy Fuels, 18, 1584, 10.1021/ef049961f Bae, 2009, Synthesis of DME from syngas on the bi-functional Cu–ZnO–Al2O3/Zr-modified ferrierite: Effect of Zr content, Appl. Catal. B, 90, 426, 10.1016/j.apcatb.2009.04.002 Barros, 2008, Effects of niobium addition on ZSM-5 studied by thermal and spectroscopy methods, Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 109, 485, 10.1016/j.micromeso.2007.05.050 Zhang, 2010, Influence of the calcination on the activity and stability of the Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst in liquid phase methanol synthesis, Fuel, 89, 1348, 10.1016/j.fuel.2009.06.011 Abu-Dahrieh, 2012, Activity and deactivation studies for direct dimethyl ether synthesis using CuO–ZnO–Al2O3 with NH4ZSM-5, HZSM-5 or γ-Al2O3, Chem. Eng. J., 203, 201, 10.1016/j.cej.2012.07.011 Nie, 2012, Core–shell structured CuO–ZnO@H-ZSM-5 catalysts for CO hydrogenation to dimethyl ether, Fuel, 96, 419, 10.1016/j.fuel.2011.12.048 Stiefel, 2011, Direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from carbon-monoxide-rich synthesis gas: influence of dehydration catalysts and operating conditions, Fuel Process. Technol., 92, 1466, 10.1016/j.fuproc.2011.03.007 Keshavarz, 2010, Nanocrystalline gamma-alumina: a highly active catalyst for dimethyl ether synthesis, Powder Technol., 199, 176, 10.1016/j.powtec.2010.01.003 Hosseini, 2012, Optimization of hydrothermal synthesis of H-ZSM-5 zeolite for dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether using full factorial design, J. Nat. Gas Chem., 21, 344, 10.1016/S1003-9953(11)60375-7 Ge, 1998, Bi-functional catalysts for conversion of synthesis gas to dimethyl ether, Appl. Catal. A, 167, 23, 10.1016/S0926-860X(97)00290-1 Qi, 2001, Low-temperature methanol synthesis catalyzed over Cu/γ-Al2O3–TiO2 for CO2 hydrogenation, Catal. Lett., 72, 121, 10.1023/A:1009049513834 Varisli, 2008, Production of clean transportation fuel dimethylether by dehydration of methanol over nafion catalyst, Gazi University J. Sci., 1, 37 Ciftci, 2010, Nafion-incorporated silicate structured nanocom-posite mesoporous catalysts for dimethyl ether synthesis, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 49, 6753, 10.1021/ie9015667 Yaripour, 2005, Synthesis of dimethyl ether from methanol over aluminium phosphate and silica titania catalysts, Catal. Commun., 6, 542, 10.1016/j.catcom.2005.05.003 Ludmany, 2004, Amorphous titanium hydrogenphosphate – an inorganic sorbent and a catalyst, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 267, 149, 10.1016/j.apcata.2004.02.035 Kumar, 2006, Nature and mode of addition of phosphate precursor in the synthesis of aluminum phosphate and its infuence on methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether, Catal. Commun., 7, 745, 10.1016/j.catcom.2006.02.025 Zhang, 2009, Multi-walled carbon nanotubes as a novel promoter of catalysts for CO/CO2 hydrogenation to alcohols, Catal. Surv. Asia, 13, 41, 10.1007/s10563-009-9066-8 Serp, 2003, Carbon nanotubes and nanofibers in catalysis, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 253, 337, 10.1016/S0926-860X(03)00549-0 Lin, 2005, Multiwalled carbon nanotubes as novel support or promoter of catalysts, Curr. Top. Catal., 4, 1 Zhang, 2013, Pd/CNT-promoted Cu ZrO2/HZSM-5 hybrid catalysts for direct synthesis of DME from CO2/H2, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 451, 28, 10.1016/j.apcata.2012.10.038 Kim, 2006, Effect of γ-alumina content on catalytic performance of modified ZSM-5 for dehydration of crude methanol to dimethyl ether, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 309, 139, 10.1016/j.apcata.2006.05.008 Ivanova, 2008, Efficient synthesis of dimethyl ether over HZSM-5 supported on medium-surface-area β-SiC foam, ChemSusChem, 1, 851, 10.1002/cssc.200800024 Keil, 1999, Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 29, 49, 10.1016/S1387-1811(98)00320-5 Chang, 1983, Hydrocarbons from methanol, Catal. Rev. Sci. Eng., 25, 10.1080/01614948308078874 Chang, 1977, The conversion of methanol and other O-compounds to hydrocarbons over zeolite catalysts, J. Catal., 47, 249, 10.1016/0021-9517(77)90172-5 Kolboe, 1995, Methanol conversion to hydrocarbons. Use of isotopes for mechanism studies, Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal., 94, 427, 10.1016/S0167-2991(06)81251-6 Lesthaeghe, 2011, Full theoretical cycle for both ethene and propene formation during methanol-to-olefin conversion in H-ZSM-5, ChemCatChem, 3, 208, 10.1002/cctc.201000286 Olsbye, 2005, Mechanistic insight into the methanol-to-hydrocarbons reaction, Catal. Today, 106, 108, 10.1016/j.cattod.2005.07.135 Gayubo, 2003, Kinetics of the irreversible deactivation of the HZSM-5 catalyst in the MTO process, Chem. Eng. Sci., 58, 5239, 10.1016/j.ces.2003.08.020 Haw, 2003, The mechanism of methanol to hydrocarbon catalysis, Acc. Chem. Res., 36, 317, 10.1021/ar020006o Patcas, 2005, The methanol-to-olefins conversion over zeolite-coated ceramic foams, J. Catal., 231, 194, 10.1016/j.jcat.2005.01.016 Stich, 1999, Role of the zeolitic environment in catalytic activation of methanol, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 121, 3292, 10.1021/ja983470q Zaidi, 2004, Catalytic conversion of methanol to gasoline range hydrocarbons, Catal. Today, 96, 155, 10.1016/j.cattod.2004.06.123 Bjørgen, 2003, Coke precursor formation and zeolite deactivation: mechanistic insights from hexamethylbenzene conversion, J. Catal., 215, 30, 10.1016/S0021-9517(02)00050-7 Song, 2002, Synthesis of the heptamethylbenzenium cation in zeolite-β: in situ NMR and theory, Catal. Lett., 81, 49, 10.1023/A:1016003905167 Haw, 2002, Zeolite acid strength and reaction mechanisms in catalysis, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 4, 5431, 10.1039/B206483A Gil, 2008, Acidic properties of SSZ-33 and SSZ-35 novel zeolites: a complex infrared and MAS NMR study, J. Phys. Chem. C, 112, 2997, 10.1021/jp077687v Ivanova, 2009, Influence of the zeolite synthesis route on its catalytic properties in the methanol to olefin reaction, J. Catal., 265, 1, 10.1016/j.jcat.2009.03.016 Fu, 2002, Ship-in-a-bottle synthesis of methylphenols in HSAPO-34 cages from methanol and air, J. Phys. Chem. B, 106, 5648, 10.1021/jp0206774 Wang, 2002 Xu, 1997, Synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME) from methanol over solid-acid catalysts, Appl. Catal. A, 149, 289, 10.1016/S0926-860X(96)00275-X Fei, 2006, Synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME) on modified HY zeolite and modified HY zeolite-supported Cu–Mn–Zn catalysts, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 304, 49, 10.1016/j.apcata.2006.02.019 Khoshbin, 2012, Direct syngas to DME as a clean fuel: the beneficial use of ultrasound for the preparation of CuO–ZnO–Al2O3/HZSM-5, Nanocatalyst Ramos, 2005, Role of dehydration catalyst acid properties on one step DME synthesis over physical mixtures, Catal. Today, 101, 39, 10.1016/j.cattod.2004.12.007 Kim, 2004, DME synthesis from synthesis gas on the admixed catalysts of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 and ZSM-5, Appl. Catal. A, 264, 37, 10.1016/j.apcata.2003.12.058 Moradi, 2008, Effect of dehydration component on the performance of bi-functional catalysts in direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from syngas Wang, 2001, Study on synergy effect in dimethyl ether synthesis from syngas, Chin. J. Chem. Eng., 9, 412 Yoo, 2007, Influence of solid-acid catalyst on DME production directly from synthesis gas over the admixed catalyst of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 and various SAPO catalysts, Appl. Catal. A, 330, 57, 10.1016/j.apcata.2007.07.007 Xia, 2004, An effective catalyst for syngas-to-dimethyl ether process with steamed zeolite HMCM-49 as dehydration component, Chem. Lett., 33, 1456, 10.1246/cl.2004.1456 Reubroycharoen, 2009, A novel, low temperature synthesis method of dimethyl ether over Cu–Zn catalyst based on self-catalysis effect of methanol, Top. Catal., 52, 1079, 10.1007/s11244-009-9252-y Yaripour, 2005, Catalytic dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether (DME) over solid-acid catalysts, J. Catal. Commun., 6, 147, 10.1016/j.catcom.2004.11.012 Takeguchi, 2000, Effect of the property of solid-acid upon syngas-to-dimethyl ether conversion on the hybrid catalysts composed of Cu–Zn–Ga and solid-acids, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 192, 201, 10.1016/S0926-860X(99)00343-9 Prez-Mayoral, 2010, Zeolites efficiently promote the cyclization of nonactivated unsaturated alcohols, Chem. Eur. J., 16, 12079, 10.1002/chem.201001593 Moradi, 2010, Catalytic dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether over mordenite catalysts, Fuel Process. Technol., 91, 461, 10.1016/j.fuproc.2009.12.005 Mao, 2005, Highly effective hybrid catalyst for the direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from syngas with magnesium oxide-modified HZSM-5 as a dehydration component, J. Catal., 230, 140, 10.1016/j.jcat.2004.12.007 Wang, 2009, Effect of H2O on Cu-based catalyst in one-step slurry phase dimethyl ether synthesis, Fuel Process. Technol., 90, 446, 10.1016/j.fuproc.2008.11.007 Flores, 2011, The influence of different methanol synthesis catalysts on direct synthesis of DME from syngas, Catal. Today, 172, 218, 10.1016/j.cattod.2011.02.063 Bozga, 2013, Dimethyl ether synthesis catalysts, processes and reactors, Recent Pat. Catal., 2, 68, 10.2174/2211548X11302010004 Jun, 1999, Concurrent production of methanol and dimethyl ether from carbon dioxide hydrogenation: investigation of reaction conditions, Bull. Korean Chem. Soc., 20, 993 Zhang, 2012, Studies on deactivation of the catalyst in direct dimethyl ether synthesis, Int. J. Chem. Reactor Eng., 10, 1, 10.1515/1542-6580.3027 Rohde, 2008, Fischer–Tropsch synthesis with in situ H2O removal: directions of membrane development, Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 115, 126, 10.1016/j.micromeso.2007.10.052 Peng, 1999, Single-step syngas-to-dimethyl ether processes for optimal productivity, minimal emissions, and natural gas derived syngas, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 38, 4381, 10.1021/ie9901269 Hu, 2005, Conversion of biomass syngas to DME using a microchannel reactor, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 44, 1722, 10.1021/ie0492707 Carvill, 1996, Sorption-enhanced reaction process, AIChE. J., 42, 2765, 10.1002/aic.690421008 Sierra, 2011, Co-feeding water to attenuate deactivation of the catalyst metallic function, Appl. Catal. B: Environ., 108, 167 Kabir, 2013, Process modeling of dimethyl ether production from Victorian brown coal—integrating coal drying, gasification and synthesis processes, Comput. Chem. Eng., 48, 96, 10.1016/j.compchemeng.2012.08.008 Shikada, 1998, Direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from synthesis gas, Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal., 119, 515, 10.1016/S0167-2991(98)80483-7 Bartholomew, 2001, Mechanisms of catalyst deactivation, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 212, 17, 10.1016/S0926-860X(00)00843-7 Tan, 2005, Modification of Cu-based methanol synthesis catalyst for dimethyl ether synthesis from syngas in slurry phase, Catal. Today, 104, 25, 10.1016/j.cattod.2005.03.033 Papari, 2013, Modelling-based optimisation of the direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from syngas in a commercial slurry reactor, Chin. J. Chem. Eng., 21, 611, 10.1016/S1004-9541(13)60505-4 Kiss, 2013, Process intensification alternatives in the DME production, Chem. Eng. Trans., 35, 91 Di Stanislao, 2007, DME synthesis via catalytic distillation: experiments and simulation, Comp. Aided Chem. Eng., 24, 1077, 10.1016/S1570-7946(07)80204-5 Dejanović, 2010, Dividing wall column – a breakthrough towards sustainable distilling, Chem. Eng. Process., 49, 559, 10.1016/j.cep.2010.04.001 Yildirim, 2011, Dividing wall columns in chemical process industry: a review on current activities, Sep. Purif. Technol., 80, 403, 10.1016/j.seppur.2011.05.009 Ignat, 2012, Integrated bioethanol separation and dehydration in a new extractive DWC, Chem. Eng. Trans., 29, 619 Bumbac, 2009, Process simulation of reactive distillation in dividing wall column for ETBE synthesis process, Chem. Eng. Trans., 18, 487 Malone, 2003, Green chemical engineering aspects of reactive distillation, Environ. Sci. Technol., 37, 5325, 10.1021/es034467w Makarand, 1992, A novel single-step dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis in a three-phase slurry reactor from co-rich syngas Sunggyu, Chem. Eng. Sci., 47, 3769 Ereña, 2008, Deactivation of a CuO–ZnO–Al2O3/gamma-Al2O3 catalyst in the synthesis of dimethyl ether, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 47, 2238, 10.1021/ie071478f Jiang, 2012, One-pot synthesis of mesoporous Cu–γ-Al2O3 as bi-functional catalyst for direct dimethyl ether synthesis, Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 164, 3, 10.1016/j.micromeso.2012.08.004 Khaleel, 2010, Methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether over highly porous xerogel alumina catalyst: flow rate effect, Fuel Process. Technol., 91, 1505, 10.1016/j.fuproc.2010.05.028 Kim, 2006, A reactivity test of Cu–Zn-based catalysts prepared with various precursors and precipitates for the direct synthesis of DME, Process Safety Environ., 84, 469, 10.1205/psep06005 Naik, 2010, Al-MCM-41 as methanol dehydration catalyst, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 381, 183, 10.1016/j.apcata.2010.04.007 Chen, 2006, Hydrodynamics of slurry bubble column during dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis: Gas–liquid recirculation model and radioactive tracer studies, Chem. Eng. Sci., 61, 6553, 10.1016/j.ces.2006.05.011 Peng, 1997, A novel mechanism of catalyst deactivation in liquid phase synthesis gas-to-DME reactions, Catal. Deactivation, 175 Jia, 2002, An integrated air–POM syngas/dimethyl ether process from natural gas, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 233, 7, 10.1016/S0926-860X(02)00120-5 Montesano, 2012, Combined methanol and dimethyl ether synthesis from CO/H2: phosphorus mediated deactivation, Catal. Commun., 29, 137, 10.1016/j.catcom.2012.09.031 Aguayo, 2005, Deactivation and regeneration of hybrid catalysts in the single-step synthesis of dimethyl ether from syngas and CO2, Catal. Today, 106, 265, 10.1016/j.cattod.2005.07.144 García-Trenco, 2012, Direct synthesis of DME from syngas on hybrid CuZnAl/ZSM-5 catalysts: new insights into the role of zeolite acidity, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., 411–412, 170, 10.1016/j.apcata.2011.10.036 Mao, 2006, The direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from syngas over hybrid catalysts with sulfate-modified γ-alumina as methanol dehydration components, J. Mol. Catal. A: Chem., 250, 138, 10.1016/j.molcata.2006.01.053 Zhu, 2010, Experimental study of improved two step synthesis for DME production, Fuel Process. Technol., 91, 424, 10.1016/j.fuproc.2009.05.001