Large Scale Manufacture of Dimethyl Ether - a New Alternative Diesel Fuel from Natural Gas

Dimethyl ether (DME) has been shown to have excellent properties as a diesel fuel giving emission levels better than the Californian ULEV standards.

This paper discusses the technologies for large scale manufacture of DME from natural gas. Laboratory and pilot tests will be presented and engineering studies of very large plants will be compared to state-of-the-art methanol production technology.