VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

BELAGAVI-590018, KARNATAKA

A SEMINAR REPORT ON

" DIMETHYL ETHER AN ALTERNATIVE

FUEL FOR DIESEL ”

Submitted in partial fulfilment for the award of the degree of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
IN
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Submitted by

KHADER AHSHAN 4SH15ME054

Department of Mechanical Engineering

SHREE DEVI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
2019-2020
 Dimethyl Ether Alternative fuel for Diesel

ABSTRACT

Air pollution, global warming, acid rain, smog, odours and its effect on human health,
wildlife are being caused by a rapid increase in harmful exhaust emissions due to the burning
of fossil fuels. Many types of combustion contribute to this problem. Alternative fuels such as
CNG, HCNG, LPG, LNG, Bio-Diesel, Biogas, Hydrogen, Ethanol, Methanol, Di-Methyl
Ether, Producer gas, P-series have been tried worldwide. Di-methyl ether (DME) is one such
fuel that has been attracting notable attention of researchers as a clean alternative fuel for
compression ignition engines without large sacrifice in vehicle performance. DME is a
synthetic fuel can be made from a variety of fossil feedstock including natural gas and coal as
well as from renewable feedstock and waste. The most cost effective feedstock for both DME
and methanol is natural gas at remote locations. DME production methods are (a) De-
hydrogenation of methanol and (b) Direct conversion from synthesis gas (syngas). DME is
commonly produced from synthesis gas, composed of H2, CO and CO2 in a catalytic
process, which is very similar to the production of methanol.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page No.

INSTITUTE CERTIFICATE 1
ABSTRACT 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 4

Chapter 2 METHODOLOGY 6
2.1 One Step Process
2.2 Two Step Process

Chapter 3 ANALYSIS OF DME 8

3.1 Property

Chapter 4 BASIC ENGINE PERFORMANCE 10

Chapter 5 DME BALANCING WITH DIESEL 13

5.1 Inter Solublity of DME in Diesel Fuel
5.2 Vapour Pressure of DME
5.3 Fuel spray Characterisation
5.4 Emission

Chapter 6 CONCLUTION 17
REFERENCE

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 Dimethyl Ether Alternative fuel for Diesel

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

Air pollution, global warming, acid rain, smog, odours and its effect on human health,
wildlife are being caused by a rapid increase in harmful exhaust emissions due to the burning
of fossil fuels. Many types of combustion contribute to this problem.
Automotive vehicles have been identified as a significant source of carbon monoxide
(CO), unburned hydrocarbons (HC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM).
Keeping in view the Eco-mobility, emission standards are constantly being changed in an
attempt to lower exhaust emissions. The fast dwindling oil deposits, the growing cost of
conventional fuels and the stringent emission norms have spurred the research for alternative
fuels.
Alternative fuels such as CNG, HCNG, LPG, LNG, Bio-Diesel, Biogas, Hydrogen,
Ethanol, Methanol, Di-Methyl Ether, Producer gas, P-series have been tried worldwide [1].
Di-methyl ether (DME) is one such fuel that has been attracting notable attention of
researchers as a clean alternative fuel for compression ignition engines without large sacrifice
in vehicle performance.
The global population is estimated about 6 billion at this moment, and the South-East
Asia region has half of the world population. This population will be about 8 billion after 30
y later and it seems about 5 billion people will be living in the South-East Asia because of the
higher population growth rate compared to the other areas. Similarly, the South-East Asia
will necessitate more energy for power generation and transportation for its economic
growth.
Though many complicated factors have to be estimated, it is presumed that the world
present oil resources may be wiped-out in about 42 y. Moreover, estimated time of the world
future oil resources depend on the price and demand. If the price of the oil increases by the
rapid demand of economic growth of the South-East Asia, it might be impossible to maintain
our life style we are enjoying at in this moment. At the same time, possibility of supply of
crude oil by several times at the present price might be impossible. Therefore a new fuel
should be linked to the oil resources.

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Next, there are problems of urban air quality standard and a global environment. The
exhaust emissions from gasoline engines are becoming very clean with the aid of advanced
fuel formulation, intake air quantity, in cylinder combustion control and exhaust gas after
treatment technology. However, the exhaust emissions of heavy-duty diesel vehicles play a
massive role in environmental pollution by emitting NOx and soot (PM). It seems that the
situation is so severe to meet a felicitous solution from the relationship between NOx and
trade-off of Soot.
However, diesel or compression ignition (CI) engine has higher thermal efficiency and
delivers a longer travel distance per unit of fuel consumed compared to spark ignition (SI)
engine. It is considered to be a friendlier power plant that emits smaller amount of carbon
dioxide (C02), a greenhouse gas associated with the global warming which appears to be an
important issue at present. Large economical merit of diesel engine makes it suitable for truck
and bus application. In Europe passenger car has also been built with diesel engine. Emission
regulation of diesel engine, especially regulation of exhaust gas of Heavy Duty (HD) diesel
engine is more stringent than the present situation. In the year 2007, the US is going to
impose an emission regulation where the emission level of HD diesel vehicle will be at the
same level of gasoline-powered vehicle.
DME is a synthetic fuel can be made from a variety of fossil feedstock including
natural gas and coal as well as from renewable feedstock and waste. The most cost effective
feedstock for both DME and methanol is natural gas at remote locations. DME production
methods are (a) De-hydrogenation of methanol and (b) Direct conversion from synthesis gas
(syngas). DME is commonly produced from synthesis gas, composed of H2, CO and CO2 in
a catalytic process, which is very similar to the production of methanol [2]. In the year 1995
an energy- and cost efficient process for its manufacture from natural gas had been developed
by Haldor Topsøe.

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Chapter 2

METHODOLOGY

The experiment has been performed on 4 stroke single cylinder diesel engine. In this
experiment, Dimethyl ether (DME) used as an additive with diesel with different percentage
of 5%, 10% & 15% with supplying of these blends, injection pressure was also change.
Taguchi method is used for this experiment. This method uses a special set of arrays called
orthogonal arrays. These standard arrays stipulates the way of conducting the minimal
number of experiments which could give the full information of all the factors that affect the
performance parameter. The orthogonal arrays method lies in choosing the level
combinations of the input design variables for each experiment. In this present study, three
factors and four levels are involved with taguchi method. So, the orthogonal array becomes
L16 for conduct the experiment. Three factors are included that % of DME, Injection
pressure and Load.

After completing an experiment as per orthogonal array, analysis was done in taguchi
method in Mini tab 16 software. The graph includes means of means and S/N Ratio. Higher
S/N ratio is considered for optimum value. There are three kinds of S/N ratio. For BSFC
lower -the-better is used. For brake thermal efficiency larger-the-better is used. Optimum
combinations of BSFC & Brake thermal efficiency are evaluated from the graph, response
tables and predicting the values.

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One step process:

Fig No: 2.1 One-step process

Two step process:

Fig No: 2.2 Two-step process

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Chapter 3

ANALYSIS OF DME CHARACTERISTICS

Di-methyl ether (DME) is the simplest ether expressed by its chemical formula
CH3OCH3, consisting of two methyl groups bonded to a central oxygen atom. It has a low
carbon-to-hydrogen (C-H) ratio. The chemical structure of DME is somewhat similar to
methanol; it contains oxygen and no carbon-carbon bonds, thus limiting the possibility of
forming carbonaceous particulate emissions during combustion.

DME is a synthetic fuel can be made from a variety of fossil feedstock including
natural gas and coal as well as from renewable feedstock and waste. The most cost effective
feedstock for both DME and methanol is natural gas at remote locations. DME production
methods are (a) De-hydrogenation of methanol and (b) Direct conversion from synthesis gas
(syngas). DME is commonly produced from synthesis gas, composed of H2, CO and CO2 in
a catalytic process, which is very similar to the production of methanol. In the year 1995 an
energy- and cost efficient process for its manufacture from natural gas had been developed by
Haldor Topsøe. A simplified block diagram of the process is shown in fig. I and the key
properties of DME and diesel fuel are shown in table I.

The effects of blend of DME on the total hydrocarbon in the exhaust. The THC
emission decreased with the blended fuel as expected, this reduction of THC emission can
be explained with the spray penetration and spray angle Diesel-DME blended fuels shows
smaller penetration and wider spray angle than neat diesel fuel make lean spray formation,
may be a factor consuming maxi mum amount of fuel before being wasted in the exhaust gas.
This explanation is consist to the decreased exhaust temperature as compared to that to diesel
fuel. NOx emissions from the blended fuel operation relatively higher as compared
with that of neat diesel fuel operation. This relatively high NOx emission was caused by the
advanced injection timing of blended fuel. As mentioned before, the decreased injection
nozzle opening pressure for neat and blended DME fuel had about 4 crank angle advanced
injection time as compared with that of diesel.

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. The phenomena are indicated as the rate of heat release histories. Though, it is described
again, benefit of the blending fuel is not in engine performance but it minimizes the
remodelling to the engine hardware.

Fig.No 3.1 Block diagram of DME production process.

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Property Unit DME Diesel

Chemical structure - CH3-O-CH3 -
Molar mass g/mol 46 170
Carbon content mass% 52.2 86
Oxygen content mass% 34.8 0
Hydrogen content mass% 13 14
Carbon-to-hydrogen ratio - 0.337 0.516
Cetane number - >55 40-55
Auto-ignition temp. K 508 523
Boiling point at 1 atm K 248.1 450-643
Lower calorific value MJ/kg 27.6 42.5
Stoichiometric A/F mass ratio kg/kg 9.0 14.6
Liquid density kg/m3 667 831
Relative gas density (air = 1)
1.59 --
Critical density kg/m3 259 --
Critical pressure Mpa 5.37 3.00
Vapor pressure(at 298 K)
Kpa 530 <<10
Kinematic viscosity of liquid
cSt <1 3
Enthalpy of vaporization kJ/kg 467.13 300
Ignition limits vol% in air 3.4-18.6 0.6-6.5
Gaseous specific heat capacity
kJ/kgK 2.99 1.7
14.86E+0
Modulus of elasticity N/m2 6.37E+08 8
Surface tension (at 298 K) N/m 0.012 0.027

Table 3.2 Physical and Chemical Properties of DME and Diesel fuel

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Chapter 4
Basic Engine Performances
The results from the present study on the neat case are presented by comparing the
measurements obtained with DME to those with diesel fuel. First, the basic pressure-time
diagrams recorded under an engine condition delivering the same mean effective pressure
(0.6 MPa) are compared to each other, for starts of injection at 17 DCA and 5 DCA BTDC,
respectively. For both injection timings, the start of pressure rise with DME occurred earlier
than that with diesel fuel, which was expected because of the DME's earlier needle lift (by
about 4-5 DCA), short ignition delay (ignition delay is defined as the crank angle between the
start of needle lift and 5 per cent of accumulated heat release) and the low- ignition
temperature (508 K for DME vs 523 K for diesel fuel).

According to the heat-release rate history calculated from the above pressure-
time data, when DME was used, there was only a weak "spike" of heat release resulting from
the premixed combustion stage. On the other hand, a sudden consumption of a
significant amount of fuel vapour-air mixture accumulated during the ignition delay
period when conventional diesel fuel was used. The reason of weak spike of heat
release of DME injection is considered like the following. The first reason is smaller
accumulated fuel during the ignition delay as compared with the diesel fuel. And the second
reason is the spray characteristics, via, the density of DME at the vapour pressure was 0.668
g/cm, and that of the critical point is 0.259g/cm, as shown in the Soave's P-V diagram. It is
difficult to measure or estimate the temperature of DME at the cavity of the injection nozzle.
However, the density of DME in the cavity is smaller than that under vapour pressure of
DME. There DME spray momentum produces the relatively rich before, the momentum of
DME spray is smaller than that of diesel fuel spray. And reduced mixture plume around the
injector, which makes a weak spike of pre-mixed combustion. Note that the existence of a
weaker spike was obviously reflected in a "smooth" and quiet engine operation when DME
was used. This expectation of higher efficiency can be confirmed in the measurements of the
exhaust-gas temperature and brake specific energy consumption (BSEC) as shown in Figure
4.1.

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A DME-fuelled engine produced a larger amount of mechanical work and a smaller

amount of wasted internal energy in the exhaust gas. The differences are quite remarkable.
Namely, the exhaust-gas temperature was lower by as much as 50 °C, and the BSEC was
lower by well over 10 per cent in some cases. This observation will be discussed further.
Shows the exhaust gas emission characteristics of DME CI engine. As expected, the soot
emission was basically zero for all tested operating conditions of the DME operations, while
that by diesel fuel increased with the engine load. Similarly, the THC emission was almost
negligible even with a high-power-output engine operation with DME. On the other hand, the
monotonous increase of THC with diesel fuel was not surprising. The NOx emission was
much higher with DME compared with that of diesel fuel when the injection started at 17
DCA BTDC, while it was somewhat lower with DME when the injection started at 5 DCA
BTDC. This unfavourable higher emission of NOx, however, was greatly reduced by using
an exhaust catalytic converter. An exhaust reduction catalyst (Cobalt- aluminium base) was
employed in order to demonstrate that this problem might be minimized or eliminated. In
order to enhance the reduction of NOx, small amounts of DME were introduced in the
exhaust gas as a reducing agent. The added DME concentration into the exhaust pipe was
measured by volume flow of DME, and THC concentration was measured by FID. Therefore,
the value of Fl D output is about 1.21-times higher as compared with original DME
concentration because the relative mole sensitivity of DME was 0.62. Since the introduction
of DME would result in the presence of raw fuel after the catalyst, both measurements of
NOx and THC were monitored while varying the catalyst temperature.

A considerable amount of NOx was eliminated when DME was introduced, but there
were some added problems with having THC after the catalyst. In particular, when DME was
added in amounts ranging 4,000-8,000 ppmc, the NOx was remarkably removed when the
catalyst temperature was 300-350 "c, which would be easily attainable in view of the exhaust-
gas temperatures observed in the experiment. The THC resulting from the addition of DME
may be oxidized by a secondary oxidation catalyst, a concept which has not been evaluated at
present.

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Fig No: 4.1 DME and diesel fuel performance

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Chapter 5

DME BLENDING WITH DIESEL

To overcome the limitations of diesel fuel and neat DME fuel in CI engine, it is
advantageous to blend DME with diesel fuel without much engine modifications. Thus, the
relative “benefit” of each fuel might be utilized. The blended fuel retains the desirable
physical properties of diesel fuel but includes the cleaner burning capability of DME. At
international level fewer efforts by researchers are observed in the use of DME-diesel blend
fuel in CI engine. The studies on the performance and emissions of the diesel/DME blends
with 10%, 20% and 30% DME by mass are conducted in a CI engine. The blend of 10%
DME and 90% diesel by mass is called DM 10, accordingly DM15, DM20, DM30 etc. The
addition of DME to diesel fuel changes the physicochemical properties of fuels with an
increase of DME mass fraction in blend, cetane number, C/H ratio and oxygen content of the
blends are enhanced but density, kinematic viscosity, low calorific value and aromatic
fractions of the blends decreases. The properties of DME-diesel blend fuel with different ratio
is given in the schematic block of the experimental setup used by Wang et al. [3] is shown in
fig. 5.1.
The LPG vessel is used instead of diesel fuel tank to prevent DME from evaporating
and the blend fuel is pressurized to 0.7 MPa by an electrical pump. The DME-diesel blend
fuel is injected into cylinders by injectors and surplus fuel is returned to LPG vessel through a
regulator valve. It is observed that vapour lock easily occurs in the pure DME fuel system
and to overcome this some pressure must be supplied to keep fuel in the liquid state. Wang et
al. [6] have shown that the vapour pressure of DME/diesel blends is lower than that of pure
DME at the same temperatures and it increases with an increase of DME mass fractio.

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Fig No: 5.1 Schematic block of the DME/diesel blend experimental setup.
5.1 Inter solubility of DME in diesel fuel.
Inter solubility of DME with diesel is the prerequisite for the engine’s stable working.
Wang et al. [4] experimentally demonstrates that the DME and diesel blend well with each
other without any solvent. Physical and chemical properties of DME and diesel display
mutual solubility at any ratio. Xiaoming et al. [5] experimentally demonstrated that the
critical solubility temperatures of DME/diesel blended fuel are below 273.15 K and the
critical solubility temperature decreases gradually with the increase of DME mass fraction in
blend.
5.2 Vapour pressure of DME/diesel blend
It is observed that vapour lock easily occurs in the pure DME fuel system and to
overcome this some pressure must be supplied to keep fuel in the liquid state. Wang et al. [6]
have shown that the vapour pressure of DME/diesel blends is lower than that of pure DME at
the same temperatures and it increases with an increase of DME mass fraction. Due to lower
vapour pressure of blend fuels, the low pressure fuel supply system can be used to keep
blends in the liquid state. This lower fuel supply pressure is beneficial for the fuel
transportation and storage safety of the blend fuels.

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5.3 Fuel spray characteristics

Fuel spray characteristics have an important influence on the combustion and

emission of CI engines. By taking relative advantages of DME and diesel, the DME/diesel
blend fuels could achieve satisfactory properties in lubricity and atomization, which
contributed to improvements in spray and combustion characteristics.
It is evidently shown by Wang that an addition of DME could lead to decreased spray
penetration but increased spray angle. Su Han et al. [7] experimentally demonstrated that the
DME/diesel blends shows higher spray tip penetration and larger spray area than that of neat
DME fuel. It can be explained by two phenomena. First, the volatility of blend is higher than
that of diesel fuel and the density of blend is lower than that of diesel fuel. Second, the
compressibility of DME/diesel blend fuel enlarges owing to the addition of DME into diesel,
which means a lower fuel supply pressure and injection pressure can be used for blended fuel.
5.4 Emissions
The DME (CH3-O-CH3) has simple chemical structure with only C–H and C–O bonds
and no C–C bond in addition high oxygen content, therefore, the emissions produced from
combustion such as smoke and PM are expected to be lower than diesel operation. The
blending of DME in diesel fuel reduces the smoke density significantly, especially at higher
loads. It is due to that DME as an oxygenate additive is effectively introduced to the fuel
regions which suppress the soot formation in the combustion chamber. This high oxygen
content combined with low C/H ratio and aromatics fractions of the blend fuels are also
assumed to contribute to the reduction of smoke at high loads However, at low and medium
loads, smoke emission of diesel engine is low and comparable because diesel fuel burns
completely owing to a large air fuel ratio.
Wang et al. [5] and Zhu et al. [8] found that the NOx emissions of blend fuel are reduced
somewhat in comparison to the engine fueled with neat diesel fuel. As DME has a higher
cetane number value and an excellent auto ignition characteristic leads to shorter ignition
delay and the amount of premixed combustion is smaller than diesel fuel, which makes the
maximum in-cylinder pressure and temperature lower which prohibits the formation of NOx.
It is observed that the increased power output and reduced NOx emission can be achieved by
retarding the fuel supply advance angle appropriately in the blend fuel engines. It is well

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known that if the fuel supply advance angle is retarded too much, combustion would
outspread to an expansion cycle.

No significant varying trend in HC and CO emission of blended fuel could be observed

and they are higher than those in diesel engines. It is suggested by various researchers to
optimize the injection characteristics of the fuel blend and the need to add an oxidation
catalyst to a vehicle fueled in this manner.

Fig No: 5.2 The relationship between vapour pressure of different kinds of fuels
and ambient temperature.

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Chapter 6
CONCLUSION

The engine performances of diesel engine operated with neat DME is comparable to
that of diesel fuel operation. The benefit of DME operation is completely soot free
combustion, and very little THC and CO emission are also attractive. The minimum CR for
easy start and stable operation of a DME CI engine was around 12.THC emissions from
the DME LCR-CI engine were low and remained the same for varied CRs (which might be
explained by the absence of liquid fuel layers wetting the walls.) The soot emission from the
DME LCR-CI engine was negligible at any CR The brake thermal efficiency of the DME
engine stayed at almost the same level when the CR was varied over a range from 12.36 to
17.7 Among the most serious disadvantages of the DME CI engine was high NOx
emission, which is considered surmountable. Neat DME was found to mix well with diesel
fuel at any ratio. Lower calorific value of the neat DME increased proportionately with the
increase of diesel content in the blend. A reduction of soot emission with blended fuel was
also achieved. However NOx emission was not lower with blended fuels.
Numerous investigations reveals the importance of the DME fuel in compression
ignition engines in the automotive sector but very few studies of the various aspects of the
neat DME and blending of DME with diesel fuel are carried out. Hence, there is great
motivation to use DME fuel in CI engine to meet stringent emission norms. But there are
some limitations to diesel fuel use in CI engine to meet stringent emission norms and with
neat DME fuel high internal leakage problems, to keep DME in liquid state and high volume
flow rate requirement are the major issues. Hence, it is advantageous to blend oxygenated
DME with diesel fuel without much engine modifications. Thus, the relative “benefit” of
each fuel might be utilized. The blended fuel retains the desirable physical properties of
diesel fuel but includes the cleaner burning capability of DME. This is an important step
showing that the DME/diesel blend fuel performs well in CI engine.

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REFERENCES

[1] Patil K R, Thipse S S et al. Development of HCNG Blended Fuel Engine with
Control of NOx Emissions. IJCISIM, Vol.2 (2010): 087-095.
[2] Alex Mills. Status and future opportunities for conversion of synthesis gas to
liquid fuels. Fuel 1994 73:1243–79.
[3] Wang Ying Zhou Longbao, Wang Hewu. Diesel emission improvements by the
use of oxygenated DME/diesel blend fuels. Int J Atmospheric Environment, 40
(2006): 2313–2320.
[4] Wang Ying, Li Genbao, Zhu Wei, Zhou Longbao, Study on the application of
DME/diesel blends in a diesel engine. Int J Fuel processing technology, 89 (2008):
1272-1280.
[5] Zhu Jianjun, Wang Tie, Kou Ziming. Study on the Application of D30 Blended
Fuel. IEEE Proc., 978-1 (2010):511-515.
[6] Wang Ying, Zhou Longbao, Experimental study on exhaust emissions from a
multi-cylinder DME engine operating with EGR and oxidation catalyst. Int J Applied
Thermal Engineering, 28 (2008): 1589–1595.
[7] Seung Hyun Yoon, June Pyo Cha, Chang Sik Lee. An investigation of the effects
of spray angle and injection strategy on dimethyl ether (DME) combustion and
exhaust emission characteristics in a common-rail diesel engine. Int J Fuel processing
technology, 91 (2010): 1364-1372.
[8] Zhu Jianjun, Wang Tie, Kou Ziming. Study on the Application of D30 Blended
Fuel. IEEE Proc., 978-1 (2010):5

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