Catalytic activity of modified silicates: I. Dehydration of ethanol catalysed by acidic sepiolite

Abstract The kinetics of the dehydration of ethanol on acidic Al 3+ -exchanged sepiolite has been studied. The product distribution indicates that the formation of diethylether and ethylene takes place by a series of consecutive and parallel reactions. A mechanism for the formation of both products has been derived by studying the influence of different operational variables on the reaction rates.