Japan DME Forum

DME production processes

The DME production processes are (1) an indirect synthetic method using the dehydration reaction of methanol and (2) a direct synthetic method of producing DME from natural gas, coal bed methane and synthetic gas made from coal, biomass and so on.
At present, DME is usually made by the indirect method and technology development for the direct synthetic method is being implemented.

DME Promotion Project in Niigata

Establishment of Joint Venture Company to Promote Fuel-Use DME
In order to promote the use of DME, which holds promise as a next generation clean fuel, nine companies established a joint venture to construct a DME plant with annual production capacity of 80,000 tonnes (with potential expansion up to 100,000 tonnes). The plant, to be constructed at MGC's Niigata plant, was started operation in July 2008.

Fuel DME Promotion Outline
9 companies from various business circles join together. Aiming the common goal (spread of fuel DME) from standpoints and business circles of each company.

Corporate mane	:	Fuel DME Production Co., Ltd.
Head Office	:	Niigata-City (c/o TOHO EARTHTECH, INC. Head office)
Capital	:	Yen465,000,000
Shareholders	:	Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, ITOCHU, Japan Petroleum Exploration, Taiyo Oil, TOTAL Di-Methyl Ether Japan, Toyota Tsusho, JGC, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Chemical
Products	:	Fuel grade DME Purity 99.0% (according to JIS TS)
Feedstock	:	Imported Methanol
Production Process	:	MGC Methanol Dehydration Process

Development of Direct DME synthesis technology

The main characteristics of this technology are composed of a slurry phase reactor which has a simple structure to be easily scaled up and a efficient catalyst which directly synthesizes DME.

In order to promote the development of this Direot DME synthesis technology to the stage at which It can be commercialized, five years development project using 100 tons/day demonstration plant has started in 2002 by DME Development Co., Ltd. which is a consortium of JFE, Taiyo Nissan, Toyota Tsusho, Hitachi, Idemitsu Kosan, Marubeni, INPEX, LNG Japan. Japex and Total, with funds provided by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan.

Five test runs including a long-term continuous operation for five months were carried out during 2003-2006 to demonstrate the viability of the technology and to obtain various engineering data, and the scale-up technology to commercial plant has been established.

The total operation time was almost one year. The cumulative DME produotion reached to about 20,000 tons. A part of the produet DME was supplied for various development projects of DME utilizations such as diesel power generation, gas turbine power generation, boiler combustion and so on.

All targeted values of the development have been demonstrated; Total conversion: 96% (target: 95%), DME selectivity: 91% (target: 90%), Production rate: 109 tons/day (target: 100tons/day). Purity of product DME: 99.8% (target: 99%) and Continuous operation: five months (target: longer than three months) During the long-term operation, the stabilities of both the process and the catalyst have been confirmed.

The synthesis gas composition from gasification of coal or biomass is in a range of H2/C0=0.5-1.0. Direct DME synthesis for which the best ratio is H2/C0=1 is advantageous to the methanol synthesis for which the best ratio is H2/C0=2, because the adjustment width of gas composition is small.

The Direct DME synthesis technology, which produces efficiently DME in a large scale, plays a substantial role to supply Fuel DME at low price Its commercialization leaded by JFE is going on after the completion of the technical development.