Effect of pressure on direct synthesis of DME from syngas over metal-pillared ilerites and metal/metal-pillared ilerites

The effect of pressure on the direct synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME) from syngas over metal (Cu, Zn) pillared ilerites and metal (Cu, Zn) impregnated metal-pillared ilerites was explored. The prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, ICP-AES, SEM and FT-IR. The direct DME synthesis reaction was carried out in a differential fixed bed reactor with the prepared catalysts at various pressures (10, 20, 30 bar), 250°C and H₂/CO ratio of 2. The Cu/Zn-pillared ilerite catalyst showed the highest catalytic activity among the prepared catalysts at 20 bar, in which CO conversion was about 62% and DME selectivity was about 89%. CO conversion increased with pressure, and DME selectivity increased with pressure in the range of 10–20 bar, and above the pressure slightly decreased with pressure. The optimum pressure for this reaction was 20 bar.