Seyedeh Mahboobeh Hosseini - Chemical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Morteza Sohrabi - Chemical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Ali Kargari - Chemical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Ali Ali Hadipour - Chemical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Syngas to dimethyl ether (DME) reactions are highly exothermic and the extent of catalyst temperature is very narrow, therefore temperature control has an excellent effect on synthesis. In this paper, a new bifunctional catalyst for DME synthesis was prepared and its activity was determined using a fixed-bed and a fluidized-bed reactor at constant pressure of 10 barg, mole ratio = 1.5 and the temperature varying from 230 to 300 ºC .The effect of reactors type on the performance of catalyst and DME synthesis were investigated. The experimental results showed that the catalytic activity and DME selectivity are higher in fluidized-bed than those in the fixed-bed reactors. Fluidized-bed reactor is, Therefore; an ideal candidate with respect to both heat and mass transfer processes.

Dimethyl ether; bifunctional catalyst; fluidized-bed reactor; fix-bed reactor; activity measurement