Catalyst for the preparation of dimethyl ether

Claim 1

A catalyst for the production of dimethyl ether consisting essentially of a mixture of an oxide of aluminum with at least one other oxide selected from the group consisting of the oxides of chromium, lanthanum, manganese, copper and zinc, wherein the atomic content of said aluminum is in the range of 10% to 70% and at least said aluminum oxide is stabilized by means of a silicon compound containing hydrolyzable groups selected from the group represented by the formula: ##STR2## wherein X, Y, Z and W represent --R, --OR, --Cl, --Br, --SiH 3 , --COOR, --SiH n Cl m , in which R is a member of the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aromatic, alkylaromatic, and cycloalkyl having from 1 to 30 C atoms, and n and m represent numbers from 1 to 3, through a thermal treatment wherein said aluminum oxide is impregnated with the silicon compound and then heated in an inert atmosphere to the boiling temperature of the silicon compound so as to react the silicon compound with the aluminum oxide and distill off reaction products and excess silicon compound and thereafter heated in the present of steam so as to react hydrolyzable groups bound to silicon with water.