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Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC) and JGC Corporation
granted German chemical manufacturer Grillo A.G. a
manufacturing process license for the production of dimethyl
ether (DME) in May 2010. After performance testing,
commercial production using the licensed process at the
German company’s new DME plant in Frankfurt began
on October 11, 2012 — a further demonstration of the
technological reliability of this proprietary process.
DME is currently used mainly in cosmetics and paint
aerosol products but as its physical properties resemble |
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those of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and it is easy to transport and store, DME is attracting attention as a
potential alternative to LPG and/or diesel fuels. Because
DME generates no sulfur oxides (SOx) or soot (PM) when
burnt and because it can be readily produced from methanol
derived from natural gas or coal, expectations for DME as a
clean next-generation fuel for power generation use are high.
The technology this proprietary process is based on was
developed by MGC in 1965. MGC independently constructed
and operated a DME production plant in Japan and further
developed its DME business by selling process licenses to
two companies overseas. In 2001 MGC and JGC began
developing and optimizing process technology that would
drastically scale up production capacity (to 1.5 million tons/
year). Employing high-performance catalysts developed by
MGC, the process has been optimized to ensure high-purity
DME product with minimal impurities and has now been
developed to a stage where it can be used to manufacture
DME on a scale exceeding one million tons a year, making
it feasible for use as fuel and contributing to expanding its
potential uses around the world.
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