New method for ethanol synthesis from dimethyl ether and syngas via two-stage reaction

A new method for ethanol synthesis from dimethyl ether (DME) and synthesis gas (syngas) via a two-stage reaction system was presented. In the first stage reaction, H-mordenite zeolite catalyst was used to convert DME into methyl acetate (MA) through carbonylation reaction. The MA produced from the first stage reactor was hydrogenated by Cu/ZnO catalyst in the followed second stage reactor to form ethanol and methanol. The conversion of DME kept at a stable value regardless of the different R2 reaction temperatures. The highest MA selectivity of 80.9% and the lowest selectivity of methanol and ethanol at 413 K indicated that most of MA was not converted under this reaction temperature. The selectivity of methanol and ethanol increased when the reaction temperature was increased from 413 to 453 K.