Can dimethyl ether be used as a new type of fuel for power generation?

Buses powered by dimethyl ether are already in use in Shanghai.

Reply to 2# ana: I’m in Shanghai. Why haven’t I heard of buses that use dimethyl ether? If it’s to be used as a power source, someone from the automobile engine field needs to speak on the matter.

At present, nearly 90% of dimethyl ether is used in combination with LPG for combustion. To use it as a fuel, engine modifications are required, and this seems to be quite challenging at the moment

Dimethyl ether has been used in Shanghai’s buses for several years; it seems to be used in Shanxi as well. There was a lot of information on this topic at the dimethyl ether conferences, and it would be worth attending if there’s a chance

This is the first time I’ve heard of it; I always thought that dimethyl ether was used to be secretly mixed into liquefied gas. Currently, there is a surplus of dimethyl ether, and it would be good if it could be used as a new fuel.

This post was last edited by zpg on 2010-11-3 at 15:39. Dimethyl ether contains oxygen, accounting for ~34.8% by mass. In other words, if you deliver 100 tons of fuel to a gas station, only 65 tons of it is actual usable fuel; the remaining 35 tons of oxygen is available in the atmosphere. Does this calculation hold up or not? ? If this gas station is in Tibet and the fuel plant is in Beijing, is it more cost-effective to deliver 100 tons of diesel or dimethyl ether? Anyone who chooses to use dimethyl ether must be either insane or an idiot. . In fact, using dimethyl ether as a fuel is merely a gimmick. It might be feasible to use it as a fuel for specific groups of people in particular areas under special conditions, to address issues related to availability, but widespread use is impossible. Leaving aside considerations such as toxicity, the economic aspects alone make it unviable. . As long as there are fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas in the world, dimethyl ether cannot replace diesel (dimethyl ether can only replace diesel as a vehicle fuel, not gasoline).

Reply to 5# yfjin2010: I’ve seen in several discussion threads that there are already dimethyl ether buses in Shanghai. It should be noted that in order to control air quality, Beijing and Shanghai have set their gasoline standards in line with those in Europe. Since dimethyl ether contains oxygen atoms, its exhaust gases will certainly contain substances such as alcohols, aldehydes, and ethers; the effects of these substances on the environment and human health have not yet been fully studied. Recently, a report was found stating that dimethyl ether buses are not granted licenses in Shanghai; therefore, the claim that \"there are already dimethyl ether buses in Shanghai\" is completely false. See the excerpt below---DME vehicles have been in use for a month but cannot carry passengers due to lack of registration. December 04, 2007, 11:02, Oriental Net-Wen Hui Daily. The first batch of DME-based environmental-friendly vehicles still cannot be used to transport passengers on roads; they can only simulate driving on roads based on the weight of load they carry. The reason is simple: there is no dimethyl ether fuel nor any standards for dimethyl ether vehicles, so it is not possible to register them.

Oh! These days, dimethyl ether is mostly added to liquefied gas. It can be said that dimethyl ether burns more completely than liquefied gas; as mentioned earlier, it has an additional oxygen atom, which results in a lower calorific value. Its cost is lower than that of liquefied gas. Isn’t the price of dimethyl ether currently around 5,000? The bubble economy! Our factory has a unit capable of producing about 80,000 tons of dimethyl ether per year, and it’s operating well. When dimethyl ether is burned, it shouldn’t produce more toxic substances than liquefied gas does, right?

Seeing is believing – our company already has two loaders that use dimethyl ether as fuel, and they are operating well at present. Everyone is working hard to advance the development of dimethyl ether as a power fuel.