M. Fazlollahnejad - Department of Chemical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, P.O. Box ۴۸۴, ۴۷۱۴۸۷۱۱۶۷ Babol, Iran
M Taghizadeh - Department of Chemical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, P.O. Box ۴۸۴, ۴۷۱۴۸۷۱۱۶۷ Babol, Iran
A Eliassi - Chemical Industries Research Department, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), Tehran, Iran
G Bakeri - Catalyst Research Group, Petrochemical Research and Technology Company, National Petrochemical Company, Tehran, Iran

One-dimensional heterogeneous plug flow model was employed to model an adiabatic fixed bed reactor for the catalytic ndehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether. Longitudinal temperature and conversion profiles predicted by this model were compared to those experimentally measured in a bench scale reactor. The reactor was packed with 1.5-mm γ- Al2O3 pellets as dehydration catalyst and operated in a temperature range of 543-603 K at an atmospheric pressure. Also, the effects of weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) and temperature on methanol conversion were investigated. According to the obtained results, the maximum conversion is obtained at T=603.15 K and WHSV=72.87 h-1.

Methanol, Dimethyl ether, Modeling, Fixed bed reactor