Energy and exergy analyses of dimethyl ether production using CO and CO2 hydrogenation

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to study the dimethyl ether production from CO and CO2 in the single-step process using thermodynamic analysis. The simulation study was divided into two parts: First, the effects of the H2/CO, H2/CO2, and H2/CO+CO2 molar ratios and operating conditions on yields of dimethyl ether were investigated. Then, the energy and exergy analyses of all routes were compared to determine the performance of the overall DME production system. The results showed that the highest DME yields were H2/CO= 4, H2/CO2=5, and H2/(CO+CO2)=4 (CO2/CO=2.0), respectively. It was found that adding CO2 to the syngas significantly decreased the yield and that increasing pressure while reducing temperature significantly increased the yield. All routes compared, using H2/CO and co-feeding CO2 resulted in the highest energy and exergy efficiency of the overall DME production system.