In 21st century, researchers make great effort of finding a clean transportation fuel to
diminish the severe effects of conventional transportation fuel combustion such as global
warming and air pollution. Dimethyl ether is considered as a strong fuel alternative due to its
good burning characteristics and environmentally friendly properties. In order to produce
dimethyl ether, different synthesis routes and solid acid catalysts are being utilized. SAPO-34 is
an aluminophosphate based catalyst having moderate acidity. This property makes it a good
candidate for the synthesis of dimethyl ether. However, SAPO-34 has microporous structure
causing diffusion limitations.
The objective of this study is to synthesize, characterize mesoporous SAPO-34 like
catalytic materials and test the activity of them in methanol dehydration reaction. The benefit of
obtaining mesoporous structure is that the diffusion limitations can be eliminated.
Mesoporous SAPO-34 like catalysts were synthesized through hydrothermal synthesis
route. BET surface areas of these catalysts were 117-133 m2/g. All methanol dehydration
reactions were carried out at a space time of 0.14 s.g/cm3. By using mesoporous SAPO-34 like
catalysts, the highest methanol conversion was 48% obtained at 550° / C with DME selectivity and
yield values of 1 and 0.49, respectively. Since utilizing microporous SAPO-34 catalyst gave
higher methanol conversion, 67%, at lower temperature, 250° / C, with dimethyl ether selectivity
of around 1, mesoporous SAPO-34 like catalysts are not suitable for this reaction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12613471/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 August 2011 |
| Creators | Demir, Hakan |
| Contributors | Sezgi, Naime Asli |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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