SRDIC Licenses Dimethyl Ether Technology to Baota Group    

Southwest Research & Design Institute of Chemical Industry (SRDIC), Sichuan Tianyi Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (Sichuan Tianyi) and Ningxia Baota Petrochemical Group (Baota Group) signed an agreement on January 29th. SRDIC and Sichuan Tianyi agree to license the production technology of 400 000 t/a dimethyl ether to Baota Group.
   Baota Group is constructing a 400 000 t/a dimethyl ether project in Linhe Comprehensive Industry Park of Ningdong Base, Ningxia. Coal is used as raw material to produce methanol and then process for dimethyl ether. Production is expected to start at the end of 2008.
   According to experts from SRDIC, the project will use the methanol vapor-phase catalytic dehydration process in dimethyl ether production. Owing to the unique structure of the vaporization distiller and the simple flow of the separation process, the investment can be reduced by 30% and the energy consumption is much lower. The steam consumption per ton of product is 0.5 tons lower than traditional units. Catalysts with good selectivity developed by the institute itself will be used and the selectivity in the reaction of methanol to produce dimethyl ether can reach more than 99.5%. Basically no emission of reaction tail gas is made. The methanol consumption per ton of dimethyl ether is quite low.
   Since 1990s SRDIC has constructed several 1 000 t/a aerosol-grade and 10 000 t/a fuel-grade dimethyl ether units using the vapor-phase methanol dehydration process in different enterprises, firstly in Guangdong Zhongshan Fine Chemical Co., Ltd. More than 40 dimethyl ether units with a capacity of 1 000-200 000 t/a have been constructed both at home and abroad with the patent technology. All technical and economic indexes have reached or surpassed design requirements. The dimethyl ether content is 99%-99.9% and the product yield is as high as 98%.
   Besides, Baota Group is also constructing a 100 000 t/a dimethyl ether project in Lingshan Comprehensive Industry Park of Ningdong Base. The project has an investment of over RMB30 million and raw material methanol will be purchased from outside sources. (CCR2007 No. 21)