Hubei Biocause Starts up 100 000 T/A DME Unit

Hubei Biocause Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. (Hubei Biocause, SZ:
000627) recently held a ceremony to formally start up its 100
000 t/a DME (dimethyl ether) unit in Jingmen, Hubei province.
As the first phase of Hubei Biocause's 1 million t/a DME project,
the 100 000 t/a DME unit was conducted wet commissioning on April
11th, 2007. With an investment of RMB40 million, the unit has
the advantages of low energy consumption, low investment and
clean process, etc.
   The 1 million t/a DME project in Hubei Biocause was launched
in June 2006 and has a total investment of nearly RMB100 million.
After completion, the 1 million t/a DME project will help the
company to increase its sales revenue by nearly RMB400 million
per year. The project adopts the patent technology developed by
Sichuan Tianyi Science & Technology Co., Ltd. and crude methanol
or fine methanol as the raw material bought by the company
itself.
   The physical property of DME is similar to LPG and can be used
as civil fuel. LPG mixed with 20% DME is proved to be the ideal
civil fuel. Therefore, DME is expected to become the clean fuel
of some major petroleum alternatives.