Studies on Deactivation of the Catalyst in Direct Dimethyl Ether Synthesis
Abstract Direct dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis from syngas has been increasingly attracted attentions. Relationship between the synergistic effect and the deactivation behavior of hybrid catalysts was studied in this paper. Two kinds of catalysts with different synergistic effect were tested in a fixed bed reactor and the catalysts before and after stability testing were characterized by XRD, N2-adsorption and TGA. Results show that the deactivation behavior of the catalyst is mainly caused by the deactivation of the methanol synthesis catalyst. Sintering of Cu particles is the main reason of the catalyst deactivation. In addition, coking during synthesis is another reason for the catalyst deactivation. Both the two reasons are deeply affected by the synergistic effect.