Modeling of a Reaction-Distillation-Recycle System to Produce Dimethyl Ether through Methanol Dehydration

摘要

The increase in the dimethyl ether yield through methanol dehydration due to a recycle integration to a reaction-distillation system was studied in this research. A one-dimensional phenomenological model of a methanol dehydration reactor and a shortcut model of distillation columns were used to achieve the aim. Simulation results show that 10.7 moles/s of dimethyl ether is produced in a reaction-distillation system with the reactor length being 4 m, the reactor inlet pressure being 18 atm, the reactor inlet temperature being 533 K, the reactor inlet velocity being 0.408 m/s, and the distillation pressure being 8 atm. The methanol conversion is 90% and the dimethyl ether yield is 48%. The integration of the recycle stream to the system increases the dimethyl ether yield by 8%.