From laboratory experiments to simulation studies of methanol dehydration to produce dimethyl ether—Part I: Reaction kinetic study

•Methanol to dimethyl ether reaction was performed over commercial samples of HZSM-5 and γ-alumina.•A simple reversible first order equation was developed for the reaction rate over γ-alumina.•An expression based on the L-H adsorption mechanism was employed as the kinetic model on HZSM-5.•Performances of these catalysts were compared to each other and HZSM-5 showed higher activity.•One dimensional plug flow reactor was modeled based on the derived rate equation of HZSM-5.

Most of the reaction rate equations for methanol dehydration are derived from the experiments conducted for crude methanol as feed and laboratory prepared catalysts, which are not exactly the same as industrial reactors conditions. In the present contribution, it is attempted to find suitable rate of reactions for pure methanol with no water as feed and commercial catalysts of HZSM-5 and γ-alumina at industrial conditions in methanol dehydration process. In addition, a comparison between the performances of the catalysts is performed. It is found that HZSM-5 has superior performances compared to the γ-alumina in terms of conversion. Modeling results are also indicated that the proposed rate of reaction predicts the behavior of the process, properly.