METHANOL DEHYDRATION TO DME WITH ?-AL2O3 CATALYST

• Main Author: Devina, Marietta
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/73786
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

<p align="justify">The national problem related to the high import of LPG has determined DME gas to be an alternatif to partial substitution of LPG gas to be a solution by the Indonesian government. This DME gas can be an alternatif to LPG because it has characteristics and compositions that are similar to LPG. The formation of DME gas can come from the dehydration process of metanol with the help of ?-Al2O3 catalyst. The development of metanol dehydration process technology with ?-Al2O3 catalyst still needs to be developed in order to get more optimal results. This study aims to determine the optimal operating conditions (temperatur and metanol flow rate) for further development. In this research, experiments on dehydration of metanol will be carried out on the turbular fixed bed reactor with 15 mm diameters and 50 mm height of bed. The research will be carried out by modifying the ?-Al2O3 catalyst and phosphorus by sonication impregnation, then the dehydration reaction of metanol in a tubular reactor with a diameter of 15 mm at a pressure of 1 bar and a flow rate of N2 gas of 40 mL/minute. This study will evaluate the effect of variations in reaction temperatur of 250 oC, 270 oC, and 290 oC, and variations in the metanol flow rate of 5, 7, 10 mL/hour on metanol conversion, and DME recovery, also side reaction. ?-Al2O3 catalyst can convert 90.03% metanol and 46% DME recovery at an optimal temperatur of 270 oC and a flow rate of 10 mL/hour.