dme synthesis over msu-s catalyst through methanol dehydration reaction

msu-s mesoporous catalyst with [sio2]/[al2o3] ratio of 55 was synthesized using tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (tpaoh) as a structure directing agent and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (ctab) as a surfactant. the catalytic activity of the calcined sample was evaluated for the dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether (dme) in a vertical fixed bed microreactor at a weight hurly space velocity (whsv) of 5 hr-1 .temperature ranged from 230 °c to 380 °c and pressure was kept constant at 1 bar. the catalyst was characterized by xrd; consequently, the mesoporous structure of msu-s catalyst was verified. the activity, selectivity, and stability of msu-s catalyst were investigated in a vertical fixed bed reactor. an increase in methanol conversion was observed by increasing temperature. the equilibrium conversion of methanol was almost reached at 380 °c and selectivity decreased from 100% to 97% as temperature rose from 200 °c to 380 °c. the stability of msu-s (michigan state university) catalyst was investigated for 12 hr at 380 °c and a stable methanol conversion was observed during the mentioned time.