Catalytic dehydration of methanol over synthetic zeolite W

High silica containing zeolite W having silica to alumina ratio of 6.4 was synthesized in solely KOH system using both conventional hydrothermal and microwave methods. The synthetic zeolite W with twin-ball type morphology was obtained from conventional hydrothermal synthesis and microwave synthesis gave prismatic morphology. Addition of ethylene glycol (EG) in the precursor gel affected to get more uniform morphologies of zeolite W in both hydrothermal and microwave synthesis. The obtained zeolite W was applied to the catalytic dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether (DME) with 100% selectivity as well as high stability due to the mild acidity of zeolite W.