Direct Dimethyl Ether (DME) Synthesis from natural gas

摘要

Dimethyl ether (DME) is a clean and economical fuel. DME is producedrnlow-costly from resources such as natural gas, coal or biomass. The properties of DMErnare so similar to those of LPG and it can be used for various fields; such as powerrngeneration, transportation, home fuel, etc. An innovative process of direct DMErnsynthesis from synthesis gas has been developed. For further research, our project hasrnbeen supported by Japan's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of Ministry ofrnEconomy, Trade and Industry (METI) .rnJFE's first project, 5-ton-per-day DME production pilot plant (5TPD) project, hadrnsuccessfully finished in 2001 after two years process development. Based on thernresult of 5TPD project, Our second project, 100-ton-per-day DME productionrndemonstration plant (100TPD) project, started in December 2003. The first plantrnoperation finished successfully in January 2004 with results of 100 % load plantrnoperation and the product DME purified more than 99.5 %.