Axial Dispersion Plug Flow Model for Methanol Dehydration Reactor

One-dimensional heterogeneous dispersed plug flow (DPF) model is employed in an adiabatic fixed bed reactor for the catalytic dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether (DME). The mass and heat transfer equations are numerically solved for the reactor. Concentration of components and temperature vary along the reactor, therefore the effectiveness factor would also change in the reactor. We used the effectiveness factor that was simulated according to the diffusion and reaction in the catalyst pellet as a pore network model. The simulated effectiveness factor was used for the reactor simulation. The simulation results were compared to the experimental data and a satisfactory agreement was confirmed