Method for the production of dimethyl ether

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.