CONCURRENT PRODUCTION OF METHANOL AND DIMETHYL ETHER FROM CARBON DIOXIDE HYDROGENATION : INVESTIGATION OF REACTION CONDITIONS

The concurrent production of methanol and dimethyl ether from carbon dioxide hydrogenation has been studied under various reaction conditions. First, the methanol synthesis was compared with the concurrent production method. For the methanol synthesis, the ternary mixed oxide catalyst (CuO/ZnO/Al 2O3) was used and for the coproduction of methanol and dimethyl ether, silica-alumina was mixed with the methanol synthesis catalyst to be a hybrid catalyst. The results show that the co-production provides much higher per-pass yield than methanol synthesis even at very short contact time. The effects of temperature, contact time, pressure and catalyst hybrid ratio on the product yields and selectivities were also determined in the co-production.