Patent ID: 8350095
Filing Date: 2013-01-08
Classification: C07C,Y02P

Abstract:
1. A process for the production of dimethyl ether comprising the steps of: (a) feeding a first stream containing methanol into a pre-reactor with a fixed bed solid acidic catalytic structure thereby, catalytically reacting at least a portion of methanol to form dimethyl ether and water; (b) feeding at least a part of the pre-reactor product to a distillation column reactor in liquid and/or gaseous phase; (c) contacting said product containing methanol with a fixed bed solid acidic catalytic structure in a distillation reaction zone, thereby catalytically reacting at least a portion of methanol to form dimethyl ether and water; (d) fractionating the resultant dimethyl ether product from water and unreacted material; (e) withdrawing the dimethyl ether product from the distillation column reactor as a first stream containing dimethyl ether, and (f) withdrawing water and unreacted material as a second stream; and (g) combing the process with a process for producing methanol; wherein the pre-reactor comprises at least two outlets; and wherein the product of the pre-reactor is split into at least two sub-streams and fed into the distillation column reactor at different feeding zones.