METHANOL TO GASOLINE: IMPROVED GASOLINE YIELDS

The role played by the catalyst in the mehhanol-to-gasoline process under varying conditions is significant. The mobil ZSM-5 catalyst yielded dimethyl ether as a major product in earlier experiments conducted in the Chemical Engineering Department. This prompted us to ascertain those parameters which yielded a high percentage of gasoline and minimized or eliminated dimethyl ether. A number of parameters like residence time, reaction temperature, and methanol catalyst weight ratio were studied and knowledge regarding how best a high gasoline yield could be produced was obtained. Product characterization was done by gas chromatographic analysis. GC-MS proved to be an extremely beneficial tool.