Experiences Achieved from Application of Dimethyl Ether (DME) as Diesel Fuel and an Appropriate Method for its Production

In this paper which is a part of results of two research projects about the conversion of a direct injection diesel engine in order of investigation of its performance with DME fuel instead of gas oil, and optimize production of DME, we will familiar with DME as diesel fuel, and some of its advantages such as clean fuel with lower pollution and appropriate performance and excellent cetane number are introduced. Also, some of the achieved results from using DME in a converted engine are reported. It is shown that the application of DME instead of gas oil doesn’t have any important effect on torque and power loss. In addition, referring to non-existing of smoke limit phenomena, the nominal speed and acceleration of engine can be increased. Also, two industrial methods for production of DME have been discussed, namely, direct method which uses synthesis gas as feed, and indirect method which uses methanol as starting raw material. The catalysts of each method have been investigated and indirect method has been selected as an appropriate method for DME production. Finally, a bench scale set up is introduced. This set up is designed and constructed for the DME process studies based on the selected production method.