Patents

The invention provides an improved process for the preparation of phosphorous containing mesoporous alumina catalyst for selective dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether. The process provides a single-step selective vapor phase dehydration of methanol to produce dimethyl ether over phosphorous containing mesoporous alumina (P/Al2OM3) catalyst at a temperature in the range of 150-3500C. The process provides methanol conversion of 45-100 percent with a selectivity of the DME up to 100 percent.