Selective Catalytic Dehydration of Bioethanol

In this article, we report on the dehydration of bioethanol over solid acid catalysts―0.1 mmol g−1 of phosphotungstic acid loaded on activated carbon carriers obtained from waste biomass. An ethanol vapor showed a selective transformation, catalyzed by the phosphotungstic acid, into diethyl ether at between 120 and 150 °C. At the temperature range of 180–205 °C, the ethanol conversion reaches almost 99.7% with 100% selectivity towards ethylene. The adsorption and catalytic studies have shown that the oxygen-containing functional groups on carbon solids act as sites of the immobilization of phosphotungstic acid and of the ethanol adsorption contributing to alcohol dehydration.