Alternative Production of Hydrocarbons from Natural Gas (Methane) via Synthesis Gas and Methanol

Abstract As a result of research, it has been found that DME from natural gas (methane), oil production and oil refinery wastes and low molecular weight olefins based on it are studied. Therefore, methanol and DME, along with synthesis gas, are relevant for the improvement of the production technology of environmentally friendly motor fuels. The most active and selective catalysts for the dehydration of methanol in DME have a texture that allows the resulting DME to desorb from the surface without steric hindrance. Such “open surface” catalysts of acidic nature include mesoporous γ - Al 2 O 3 and large-pore zeolite HU, whose promotion with H 3 PO 4 achieves 100 % selectivity for DME formation at 88-90 % conversion of methanol. Experiments were performed by varying the amount of methanol in the CH 3 OH : (CO + H 2 ) reaction mixture from 25 to 100 % by volume. In the main experiments with CO : H 2 = 1:1 ratio, the linear speed of the reaction gas flow was kept constant at 3.8 ÷ 0.2 cm 3 min −1 , that is, the contact time was kept constant for 15.5-16 s. The reaction products were analyzed by gas chromatography.