Chinese Scientists Achieve Breakthrough in Production of DME through Biomass Gasification   

Recently, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion (GIEC), Chinese Academy of Sciences, announced a breakthrough in the production of dimethyl ether (DME) from biomass through gasification. The institute has achieved the steady operation of a 1kt/a DME pilot plant which produces DME through biomass gasification. It has also completed the development of the technology package for a 10kt/a biomass-to-DME plant producing DME through biomass gasification.
   The biomass-to-DME technology is to produce DME from biomass through gasification. Dry biomass is first oxidized by oxygen-rich air into crude fuel gas, which is then purified and reformed into syngas. Under certain pressure and temperature and the action of catalysts, the resulted syngas is turned into methanol, which is further converted into DME. The institute has also developed the one-step biomass-to DME process, in which the resulted syngas is directly converted into DME instead of methanol. In the GIEC one-step biomass-to-DME process, the gasification rate of the biomass reaches 82.6%, and the conversion rate of syngas into DME gets to 70.15%.
   The successful operation of the 1kt/a biomass-to-DME pilot plant marks that China has achieved a breakthrough in the industrialization of its proprietary biomass-to-DME technology and the conversion of biomass into fuel.
   GIEC started the research in 2009. Now, it has applied one international patent, five national invention patents and one utility patent for this technology.