Process of ether synthesis

Claim 1

A process for producing a high octane liquid gasoline fuel product mixture rich in methanol and methyl ethers from coal consisting of the sequence of steps as follows: (a) gasifying coal to form a coal gasification product gas mixture comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide, (b) contacting said coal gasification product gas with water and a shift conversion catalyst to catalytically react said water with said carbon monoxide of said gasification product gas to form a shift product gas mixture comprising carbon dioxide and hydrogen, (c) subjecting said shift product gas mixture to a clean-up step to produce a cleaned shift product gas mixture, (d) contacting said cleaned shift product gas mixture with an alcohol synthesis catalyst to form a synthesis product mixture of alcohols, said synthesis product mixture of alcohols comprising methanol, and said alcohol synthesis catalyst comprising alkali modified zinc oxide and chromium oxide, (e) separating said synthesis product mixture of alcohols into a methyl alcohol separation product mixture and a higher alcohol separation product mixture, said methyl alcohol separation product mixture comprising a substantially larger proportion of methanol than said synthesis product mixture of alcohols, and said higher alcohol separation product mixture further comprising substantially all of the alcohols other than methanol from said synthesis product mixture of alcohols, (f) dehydrating said higher alcohol separation product mixture with a catalyst to form a dehydration product mixture and water, said dehydration product mixture comprising olefins, and said catalyst comprising alumina, (g) catalytically reacting said olefins of said dehydration product mixture with a portion of said methyl alcohol separation product mixture in the presence of an ether synthesis catalyst at about 125° F. and 300 psig to form a methyl ether product mixture, said ether synthesis catalyst comprising acidic ion exchange resin, (h) mixing the remainder of said methyl alcohol separation product with said methyl ether product mixture to form a methyl alcohol and methyl ether product mixture as substantially the only liquid product of said coal gasified in step (a), and (i) mixing gasoline with said methyl alcohol and methyl ether product mixture to form a high octane fuel product, whereby substantially all of the alcohols formed in step (d) are formed into a mixture of methyl alcohol and methyl ethers and are mixed with gasoline to produce a high octane liquid gasoline fuel product rich in methyl alcohol and methyl ethers.