Alumina structure and surface property regulation for catalyzing methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether
Dimethyl ether(DME),as a key chemical raw material,is widely used in the synthesis of a multitude of important chemical products and energy commodities.In the industrial production,γ-Al2O3 used for the preparation of DME from methanol has been widely applied due to its high catalytic efficiency.However,the synthesis methods and preparation conditions of γ-Al2O3 have a significant impact on its catalytic performance.At present,there is still insufficient systematic research on how the synthesis conditions of γ-Al2O3 commonly used in industry affect its catalytic performance.This study successfully prepared γ-Al2O3 with different pore structures and acidic properties by adjusting the pH of the mother liquor during the sol-gel process using the double aluminum method.The influence of acidic site properties of γ-Al2O3 on the performance of methanol-to-DME synthesis was systematically investigated.Characterization results revealed that,with an increase in the pH of the mother liquor,the specific surface area,pore volume,and pore size of γ-Al2O3 exhibited a decreasing trend.Furthermore,as the pH increased,the weak acidity of γ-Al2O3 gradually decreased,while the moderate-strong acidity showed an initial increase followed by a decrease.Combining the results of catalytic performance evaluation,it was found that the quantity of moderate-strong acidic sites is closely related to methanol dehydration performance.γ-Al2O3 with the highest quantity of moderate-strong acidic sites exhibited the highest DME yield,suggesting that moderate-strong acid sites are the primary active centers for γ-Al2O3 catalyzing methanol dehydration to produce DME.Kinetic experiments were conducted on γ-Al2O3 with optimal performance,and the reaction order of methanol dehydration was 0.78,and the reaction activation energy was 83.27 kJ/mol.This study provides important guidance for the design of catalysts for methanol dehydration to produce DME,laying the foundation for further optimization of industrial production conditions and improvement of catalytic efficiency.