| Summary: | Modification of sodium montmorillonite was conducted using zirconium phosphate. The effect of a series of phosphate
precursors such as dihydrogen phosphate, diammonium hydrogen phosphate, and sodium phosphate was observed. The catalyst
was used in the conversion of methanol dimethyl ether using 1 g of catalyst at a temperature range of 150-350 ˚C with a Liquid
Hourly Space Velocity (LHSV) monitored to 2.54 h−1
and N2 as carrier gas. The product was analyzed directly with a reactor
system connected to gas chromatography. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray
(SEM-EDX), N2 adsorption-desorption, and Temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia (NH3-TPD) were utilized to
characterize the catalyst. The characterization showed that the modified sodium montmorillonite-zirconium phosphate was
successfully synthesized. The study showed that modified montmorillonite using zirconium phosphate significantly increased
the catalytic activity of sodium montmorillonite by providing medium and strong acid sites also increased the surface area. The
modified sodium montmorillonite-zirconium phosphate from dihydrogen phosphate precursor exhibited the highest catalytic
activity with the methanol conversion of 96.76%, dimethyl ether selectivity of 96.8%, and dimethyl ether yield of 93.67%,
whereas the modified sodium montmorillonite-zirconium phosphate from diammonium hydrogen phosphate showed good
stability towards methanol conversion.
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