Method for producing dimethylether

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of dimethyl ether comprising the following steps: feeding a methanol-containing stream SFeed-RD into a reactive distillation unit RD, wherein in at least one reaction zone RZ of the reactive distillation unit RD, methanol is converted to dimethyl ether and water in the presence of an acid catalyst, and a distillative separation is performed into a fraction that contains dimethyl ether and leaves the reactive distillation unit RD as a overhead stream Soverhead-RD, and a fraction that contains water and leaves the reactive distillation unit RD as a bottom stream Sbottom-RD, removing a methanol-containing side stream Sside-RD from the reactive distillation unit RD, feeding the methanol-containing side stream Sside-RD into a side reactor SR and converting the methanol in the presence of an acid catalyst to dimethyl ether and water to obtain a product stream Sproduct-SR, which contains dimethyl ether, water and methanol and is removed from the side reactor SR.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.