Presentation

DME Production by Methanol

Supervised by:- Sir Tanveer
Presented by :-
 Arsal Hashmi (16103123-021)
 Matie-Ullah (16103123-028)
 Table of contents:
 Title
 Introduction
 Capacity Selection
 Process Selection
 Material Balance
1. Material balance around reactor
2. Material balance around first distillation column
3. Material balance around second distillation column
4. Recycle stream and mixing point
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Title:

• Production of 250 tons per day Dimethyl Ether

(DME) using methanol by dehydration process.

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Introduction:
• What is DME?

• DME, dimethyl ether is the simplest one toxic colorless

gaseous ether. It has the formula CH3OCH3 which is
considered as the suitable precursor to other organic
compounds. Biomass (waste and agricultural products),
natural gas and cool are the most known renewable
resources used for the DME production. There is no any
DME production plant which is working in Pakistan yet.
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 Importance and applications of DME:
The significance of DME appears when it comes to talk about its
application as a substitute fuel or diesel cars and trucks since its
less negative environmental effects. Many countries are developing
trucks that are fueled by DME.
There are three significant applications for DME in industries.
1. The first is that it us used as supplement for propane in cooking
gas.
2. The second is its usage as a propellant for aerosol spray-can
solvent.
3. The third is power generation. China is the prime producer and
consumer for DME.
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 Comparison between DME and Diesel properties
Properties DME Diesel

Chemical formula CH3-O-CH3 CxHy

Mol. Weight 46.07 190-220
Boiling point (℃) -24.09 180-360
Density (g/cm3) 0.668 0.84
Viscosity (cP) 0.15 4.4-5.4
Low heating value (MJ/kg) 28.43 42.6
Explosion limit in air (vol.%,) 3.4-17 0.6-6.5
Ignition temperature (℃) 235 250
Cetane number 50-60 40-55
Stoichiometric A/F(kg/kg) 9.0 14.6
Latent heat of vaporization (KJ/kg) 460(-20℃) 290

% wt. of carbon 52.2 86

% wt. of hydrogen 13.0 14
% wt. of oxygen 34.8 0
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Properties Methanol Dimethyl Ether

Appearance Liquid, colorless Gas, colorless

Molecular weight 32.04 g/mol 46.05 g/mol
Melting point -97.8 (℃) -141.49 (℃)
Liquid Density (1.013 bar) 0.7918 g/cm3 735.2 kg/m3
Boiling point 64.5 (℃) -24.81 (℃)
Latent heat of vaporization 37.43 kJ/kg 461.55 kJ/kg
Vapor pressure 12.3 kpa 5.0924 Kpa
Critical temperature (at 20℃) 240 (℃) 127.2(℃)
Critical pressure 73.76 bar 54.4 bar
Compressibility factor (1.013 bar) 0.224 o.977
Specific gravity 0.7915 1.59
Heat capacity at const. pressure (1.013 bar) 81.08 J/(mol k) 0.0681 J/(mol K)
Heat capacity at const. volume (1.013 bar) 0.0588 J/(mol k)
Viscosity (1.013 bar) 0.808 mPa.s 8.2865E-05 poise
Thermal conductivity at (1.013 bar) 200 mW/(m.k) 15.616 mW/(m.k)
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Capacity Selection:
Capacity of a plant can be effected by many factors but major of
them are availability of raw materials, utilities (required to run
plant) and also by the quality of raw material. DME is one of the
most promising alternative automotive fuel solutions among the
various ultra clean, renewable, and low-carbon fuels under
consideration worldwide. DME can be used as fuel in diesel
engines, gasoline engines and gas turbines.

• Total consumption of Diesel per year = 8 million tons

• Production rate of Diesel per year (by all means) = 3.2 million
tons
• Gap (or) import value of Diesel per year = 4.8 million tons
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Continue
As an automotive fuel, when compared with petroleum-derived diesel, DME’s
performance demonstrates a number of significant benefits:
• Ultra low exhaust emissions
• No particulate matter (PM); very low NOx; no SOx)
• Low CO2 emissions
• Low engine noise
• High fuel economy
• High well-to-wheel efficiency
• Thermal efficiency equivalent to diesel engine performance
• Ignition characteristics equivalent to diesel engine performance

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DME Synthesis methods (process selection):

There are two different processes which are mainly used for
the production of DME, one of them is direct method (in
which Syngas is used as a feed or raw material and got
converted into to DME after two main reactions of
Synthesis and dehydration) and second method is indirect
method in which methanol is used as a raw material for
DME production.
1. DME from Syngas
2. DME from Methanol
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DME from Methanol:

Process Description:
• DME is produced by dehydration of methanol in a fixed bed reactor. First, a
Fresh stream with composition of 97% methanol ,2% ethanol and 1%
water is pumped to a mixer where it is mixed with the recycled stream
containing composition of 93.23% methanol, 6.3 % ethanol and 0.45 %
water, is heated by using high pressure steam in order to fulfill the
specified isothermal conversion reactor inlet conditions. The inlet to the
reactor stream with single pass conversion of 80% due to equipment
constraints. The outlet stream of the reactor (which consists of 39.1%
DME, 19% methanol, 2% ethanol and 39.9% water) is passed through a
cooler to be cooled before being sent to the first distillation column.

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Continue:
• The first distillation column is designed to separate the desired product
which is DME from the mixture. For the first column, It was assumed
that the reflux ratio was 3 and 100% fractional recovery of DME in the
distillate. The overhead stream consists of 99.3 % DME (99.5 wt. %)
and the rest is methanol (.007 mole %). The bottom stream is
transferred to the second distillation in order to separate the
unreacted methanol from water and ethanol.
• After separation, the distillate stream which contains 93. % methanol is
recycled back to the mixer via pump. However, the bottom stream
which is mostly water is cooled down to 25 oC and sent to waste
treatment to remove trace amounts of organic compounds.

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 Main equipment:

PFD: 1.
3.
4.
Pump
Mixer
Heat exchanger
5. Reactor
6. Cooler
8,10. Distillation columns
9,11. Storage Tanks

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 Material Balance:
Introduction:
Mass or material balance is the direct application of the conservation law
‘’mass or material can neither be crated or destroyed but it can be changed
from one form to another form’’. Mass balance can be utilized to perform
calculations of molar flow, mass flow, and a composition of a stream. The
conservation laws applied for chemical engineering process is best described
by the following equations:

• Input + generation = output + Accumulation + consumption

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Material Balance:
• In this work, our purpose is to produce 250 tons/day of 99.5%
Dimethyl ether (DME). It’s best to work on SI units, so the (ton/day)
and the (wt.%). If this DME plant, runs with the production of 250
tons per day of DME for 340 days out of 365, then:

𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑠 1000𝑘𝑔 1000𝑔 1𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 1𝑑𝑎𝑦 1𝑚𝑜𝑙

• 85,000 * * * * * = 226597.06
𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 1𝑡𝑜𝑛 1𝑘𝑔 340 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 24 ℎ 46 𝑔
𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙
ℎ
𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙
(OR) = 226.60
ℎ
• Mol. Weight of DME = 46 g/mol
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 2A B+C

Reaction:

There is only one reaction which is the dehydration of

methanol.

• 2CH3OH CH3OCH3 + H2O

For simplicity let methanol = A, DME = B and H2O = C.
So, above equation becomes:
• 2A B+C
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Mass Balance around the Reactor :
Assumptions:
The following assumptions were applied when mass balance was
performed around the reactor:
• The base of calculation was set to the stream entering the reactor
not to the fresh feed. Fresh feed stream flow will be calculated after
we calculate the recycle stream flow rate.
• Composition of the reactor feed assumed as given below, neglecting
the amount contributed from the recycled stream at first.
• Only one reaction Methanol to DME.
• Ethanol is inert.
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Mass Balance around the Reactor:
Reactor feed Reactor Out
Components Composition Molar flow Mass flow Composition Molar flow Mass flow
(mol.%) (Kgmol/h) (Kg/h) (mol.%) (kgmol/ h) (Kg/h)

Methanol 0.97 566.5 18128 0.194 113.38 3628.16

DME - - - 0.391 226.56 10421.76

Ethanol 0.02 11.68 537.28 0.02 11.68 537.28

H2O 0.01 5.84 105.12 0.399 232.4 4183.2

Total 1 584 18770.4 1 584 18770

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Mass Balance around the first Distillation column:

Assumptions:
1. All DME goes in the distillate.
2. Only trace amount of methanol goes in distillate.
3. All water and ethanol goes in bottom.

Specifications:
• Purity of DME is 99.5wt.% so, 0.5 wt.% is methanol.
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Mass Balance around the first Distillation column:
Feed Distillate Bottom
Comp Composi Molar Mass Compositi Molar Mass Composition Molar Mass
onents tion flow flow on flow flow (mol.%) flow flow
(Kgmol/ (Kg/h)
(mol.%) (Kgmol (Kg/h) (mol.%) (kgmol/ (Kg/h)
h)
/h) h)

Metha 0.194 113.38 3628.16 0.007 1.60 51.2 0.314 111.73 3575.4
nol
DME 0.391 226.56 10421.7 0.993 226.6 10423.6 - - -
6
Ethan 0.02 11.68 537.28 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.031 11.63 535
ol
H2O 0.399 232.4 4183.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.653 232.4 4183
Total 1 584 18770 1 228.18 10474.8 1 355.82 8293.6

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Mass Balance around the second Distillation column:

Assumptions:
The problem statement didn’t provide us with any kind
of specification for the distillate or bottom, so we are
going to assume the compositions of the distillate and
the amount of either the distillate or the bottom.

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Mass Balance around the second Distillation column:
Feed Distillate Bottom
Compone Composit Molar Mass Compos Molar Mass Compositi Molar Mass flow
nts ion flow flow ition flow flow on flow (Kg/h)
(mol.%) (Kgmol/h) (Kg/h) (mol.%) (kgmol/ (Kg/h) (mol.%) (kgmol/ h)
h)
Methano 0.314 111.73 3575.4 0.9323 92.89 2972.5 0.074 18.96 606.72
l
DME - - - - - - - - -
Ethanol 0.031 11.63 535 0.063 6.28 288.9 0.018 4.61 212.06

H2O 0.653 232.4 4183 0.0045 0.45 8.1 0.905 231.85 4173.3

Total 1 355.82 8293.6 1 99.63 3269.5 1 256.19 4991.3

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Recycle stream and mixing point

The recycled stream has the following composition :

R=99.63 Kgmole /hr , Xa= 0.9323 , XD= 0.0632 , Xc=0.0045
Overall mass balance around the mixing point
• Fresh Feed(f)=584 Kgmole/hr
• Feed after mixing (F) = ?
• Recycled stream(R)= 99.63
• F= f-R= 584 – 99.63 = 484.37 Kgmole/hr

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 Recycle stream and mixing point
Feed Stream Recycled Stream Mixing Stream
Componen Composit Molar Mass Composi Molar Mass flow Composit Molar Mass
ts ion flow flow tion flow (Kg/h) ion flow flow
(mol.%) (Kgmol/h (Kg/h) (mol.%) (kgmol/ (mol.%) (kgmol/ h) (Kg/h)
) h)
Methanol 0.97 566.5 18128 0.9323 92.89 2972.5 0.9777 473.57 15154.24

DME - - - - - - - - -
Ethanol 0.02 11.68 537.28 0.063 6.28 288.9 0.0112 5.42 249.32

H2O 0.01 5.84 105.12 0.0045 0.45 8.1 0.0111 5.34 96.12

Total 1 584 18770.4 1 99.63 3269.5 1 484.37 15499.68

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