Diethyl Ether Production as a Substitute for Gasoline

Abstract

Diethyl ether is one of alternative fuel that could be used as a significant component of a blend or as a complete replacement for transportation fuel. The aim of this research is to produce diethyl ether through dehydration reaction of ethanol with fixed bed reactor using nanocrystalline γ-Al2O3 catalyst. Nanocrystalline γ-Al2O3 catalyst was synthesized by precipitation method using Al(NO3)3.9H2O as precursors and NH4OH as the precipitating agent. Dehydration reaction was performed at temperature range of 125 to 225°C. The result shows that synthesized γ-Al2O3 catalyst gave higher ethanol conversion and diethyl ether yield than that of commercial Al2O3 catalyst. The use of synthesized γ-Al2O3 catalyst could reach ethanol conversion as high as 94.71% and diethyl ether yield as high as 11,29%.