Modeling and optimization of catalytic dehydration of ethanol to ethylene using central composite design

The central composite design in the modeling and optimization of catalytic dehydration of ethanol to ethylene was performed to improve the ethylene yield. A total of 20 experiments at random were conducted to investigate the effect of reaction temperature, Si/Al ratios of H-ZSM-5 catalyst and liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) on the ethylene yield. The results show that the relationship between ethylene yield and the three significant independent variables can be approximated by a nonlinear polynomial model, with R-squared of 99.9% and adjusted R-squared of 99.8%. The maximal response for ethylene yield is 93.4% under the optimal condition of 328°C, Si/Al ratio 85, and LHSV 3.8 h-1. © Tianjin University and Springer-Verlag 2009.