What exactly are the challenges in the technical route for producing dimethyl ether directly from syngas?
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A friendly reminder: it’s great that you’re interested, but for more in-depth and promising exchanges and discussions, it would be more practical to engage with manufacturers of methanol dimethyl ether, or researchers working on catalysts for the direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from (CO+H2). Looking at the progress in research on catalysts and their related properties over these many years, there are actually no more insurmountable obstacles. In terms of catalyst research, few researchers design experimental studies based on the varying natural compositions of syngas derived from different sources such as coal, heavy oil, coke oven gas, or natural gas; instead, they tend to conduct in-depth analyses using the classic composition of methanol synthesis gas before drawing conclusive findings. Accidentally, only the methanol and dimethyl ether synthesis function of this multi-functional catalyst was utilized, while its function of gas conversion was relatively neglected; this approach helps to reduce investment in conversion processes, makes full use of the intermediate water vapor generated during direct synthesis, and thus minimizes the amount of steam produced. In other words, it is ideal and entirely feasible to first remove the key impurity H2S from the synthetic feed gas (removing CO2 as well), add the necessary amount of steam, and then proceed directly to the dimethyl ether synthesis process. In the subsequent dimethyl ether separation process, the first separation tower should be an efficient separation device with combined functions of distillation and absorption washing. The overhead of the tower yields a gas mixture that contains virtually no dimethyl ether (with main components being CO2, CO, H2, etc.), while the bottom product is crude dimethyl ether (which also contains small amounts of water, methanol, etc.). Throughout the separation process, hydrogen extraction equipment can be added as needed based on actual conditions. Hydrogen is used to produce products with higher added value.
This post was last edited by newsdom on 2019-2-22 07:54. The technology route based on methanol to produce olefins (or gasoline), which has been in use for many years, could see a significant reduction in production costs if it is switched to a technology route that uses crude dimethyl ether as an intermediate product. This would be highly beneficial for enhancing a company’s competitiveness and economic performance. Of course, this is based on the one-step dimethyl ether production technology route.
The last edit to this post was made by newsdom on 2019-2-24 at 09:45. Potential and key points of the integrated technology design for one-step synthesis of dimethyl ether: 1. The feed gas is first subjected to treatment to remove H2S completely, as well as most of the CO2； 2. During normal operation, before the purified gas enters the DME reactor, external steam is supplied as a supplement. 3. After normal production, the methanol aqueous solution generated in the DME separation process has a recovery value determined by its methanol content. Methanol aqueous solutions that are not worth recycling can be used directly as a heat transfer medium to carry away the heat generated by the DME reaction; the steam produced can be utilized within the facility (or the production facilities of the group company) for use in gasification and conversion processes. Of course, this aspect requires a more optimized design based on the steam usage balance results. It directly transforms the negative effects of treating DME synthesis wastewater into positive benefits in terms of water and steam savings.