Theoretical Analysis of Fluidized-Bed Reactor for Dimethyl Ether Synthesis from Syngas

Dimethyl ether (DME) is regarded as an environmentally benign fuel for vehicles. Two kinds of reactor technologies for DME synthesis have been proposed by previous researchers: the fixed-bed and the slurry reactor. As the reactions are highly exothermic and the temperature window of the catalyst is very narrow, the fixed-bed reactor provides a limited heat removal capability and a low conversion of the syngas. The slurry reactor can provide an effective temperature control but a very high inter-phase mass transfer resistance is added by the liquid medium. The Fluidized bed reactor can be an ideal reactor for DME synthesis as it possesses both high heat and mass transfer efficiencies. In this paper, a two-phase model is used to theoretically analyze the DME synthesis in a fluidized bed reactor, with both phases assumed to be in plug flow and taking into account the changes in bubble diameter resulting from the reaction. Three reactions take place simultaneously when DME is manufactured from the syngas (H2 + CO): a) CO+2H2 = CH3OH; b) 2CH3OH = DME+H2O; and c) CO+H2O = CO2+H2. The simulation shows that, at the reactor outlet, the equilibrium approaches of the three reactions are 0.32, 0.1, and 0.61, respectively. When H2/CO=1.0, the CO conversion and DME selectivity in a fluidized bed reactor are 62% and 95%, while those in a fixed-bed reactor are 9% and 86%. In a slurry reactor, the CO conversion and DME selectivity are 17% and 70%, respectively. Therefore, the fluidized-bed is the most promising candidate reactor for conducting the DME synthesis from syngas. Effects of the operating conditions on the performance of DME synthesis in the fluidized-bed reactor are discussed in details. The optimal H2/CO ratio is between 1.0-1.5, and increasing the pressure is shown to improve the reactor performance.