Biomass to dimethyl ether by gasification/synthesis technologyan alternative biofuel production route

Tiejun WANG, Yuping LI, Longlong MA, Chuangzhi WU

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PDF(333 KB)
Front. Energy ›› DOI: 10.1007/s11708-010-0121-y
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Biomass to dimethyl ether by gasification/synthesis technologyan alternative biofuel production route

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Abstract

Technical and economic analysis was done for the biomass to dimethyl ether (DME) technology to promote the gasification/synthesis route for biofuel production and its application as a fossil fuel substitute. The technology of biomass gasification/synthesis has obvious advantages, including production flexibility, environmental friendliness, economic feasibility, and application versatility. Biomass gasification/synthesis technology integrates bio-DME synthesis, fertilizer production, electricity generation, and waste heat utilization to convert waste biomass residues to DME for use as liquid petroleum gas, transportation fuel substitute, and chemical intermediates, which has been proven to be one of the most effective and clean biomass utilization routes. The 1000 t/a-scale demonstration plant has a bio-DME production rate of 6 to 7tbiomass/tDME, biomass gasification efficiency of≥82%, once-through CO conversion of ≥70%, DME selectivity (DME/DME+other organic products) of ≥90%, and a total system efficiency of ≥38%. The demonstration plant also has self-sufficient steam and electricity supply. The 10,000tons/a-scale bio-DME production cost with or without feedstock subsidy is estimated to be 1968 Yuan/t and 2868 Yuan/t, respectively in China. Because of the limitation in biomass feedstock collection cost, massive and disperse commercial plants with a capacity of 10000 t/a bio-DME are more suitable for rural areas.

Keywords

technical and economic analysis / biomass / dimethyl ether / gasification/synthesis

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Tiejun WANG, Yuping LI, Longlong MA, Chuangzhi WU. Biomass to dimethyl ether by gasification/synthesis technologyan alternative biofuel production route. Front Energ, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-010-0121-y

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB210207), the Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA05Z416), and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. 9451007006004086).

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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