DOI: https://doi.org/10.9767/jcerp.20269

Energy Optimization of Dimethyl Ether (DME) Production Process from Methanol Dehydration

1Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Diponegoro, Jl. Prof. Sudarto, SH, Tembalang, Semarang, 50275, Indonesia

2Department of Chemical Engineering, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta, Indonesia

Received: 17 Dec 2024; Revised: 19 Dec 2024; Accepted: 19 Dec 2024; Available online: 26 Dec 2024; Published: 30 Dec 2024.
Editor(s): Istadi Istadi
Open Access Copyright (c) 2024 by Authors, Published by Universitas Diponegoro and BCREC Publishing Group
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Abstract

The increasing demand for sustainable and clean alternative fuels has driven the focus on dimethyl ether (DME), an environmentally friendly and non-toxic chemical with high potential as a fuel and industrial solvent. DME can be produced from various raw materials such as natural gas, methanol, biomass, and coal. This study investigates the optimization of DME production from methanol dehydration using a fixed-bed plug flow reactor and γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst, emphasizing energy efficiency improvements. Modifications were implemented in the Aspen HYSYS simulation by replacing the conventional heater with heat exchanger and utilizing heat generated during cooling process for another heating process. The results demonstrated a significant reduction 65.8 % in net energy consumption from 8.54×106 kJ/h to 2.92×106 kJ/h, validating the effectiveness of these modifications by leveraging Aspen HYSYS simulations, the proposed design achieved high process efficiency while maintaining the target DME purity of 99.95 % produced. This research highlights the potential of heat integration strategies to enhance the economic and environmental performance of DME production processes. Copyright © 2024 by Authors, Published by Universitas Diponegoro and BCREC Publishing Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

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Keywords: Optimization; dimethyl ether; DME; methanol dehydration; simulation

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Section: Original Research Articles
Language : EN
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