Experimental study for dimethyl ether production from biomass gasification and simulation on dimethyl ether production

A novel route for DME production from biomass was proposed and tested in a bench scale experimental system. A Cu–Zn–Al/HZSM-5 (16.7 wt%) was developed for DME synthesis from the biomass-derived syngas. At 1113 K, atmospheric pressure, the feed rate of 0.6 kg biomass/h, ER of 0.28, and CO2/biomass ratio of 0.327, 1.4 Nm3 of raw gas kg−1 biomass with LHV of 8.36 MJ m−3 was produced. With reforming by the biogas addition of 0.54 Nm3 kg−1 biomass, the yield of syngas increased to 2.5 Nm3 from 1.4 Nm3 of raw gas, and the ratio of H2/CO was adjusted to 1.18. At ideal synthesis conditions, it was simulated based on kinetics equations for direct DME synthesis on Cu–Zn–Al/HZSM-5 catalyst that 78.5% of CO conversion and 379 g DME per kg biomass could be obtained. Gasification with CO2 agent and sequent co-reforming with biogas supplies great potential for high efficient production of DME from biomass.