Abstract: The catalytic performance of various zeolite catalysts for dimethyl ether (DME) hydrolysis was investigated. The aim is to obtain a highly active catalyst for hydrolysis of DME at low temperature, which can be coupled with the Cu-Pd/AC catalyst to construct a bifunctional catalyst for coupling the DME hydrolysis with methanol carbonylation. The results showed that the acidic zeolite catalysts HZSM-5 and MCM-22 exhibited DME hydrolysis activity at relatively low temperatures. Compared with HZSM-5, the good accessibility of the strong Bronsted acid sites located in MCM-22 super cages was responsible for higher conversion of DME. Further improvement in the catalytic activity was found on the MCM-22 catalyst modified by transition metals Pd and Cu.

Key words: copper, palladium, MCM-22, dimethyl ether, methanol, low-temperature hydrolysis, dimethyl carbonate