Dimethyl Ether

Production
University of TN-Chattanooga
ENCH 4290-Intro to ChemE Design

Submitted By: Aziz Albatattah, Alwabari Abdulmohsen, Marquita Beard &

Alston Casseday
 Outline
Introduction
Objective
Design Constraints
Assumptions
CHEMCAD Design
Sizing
Costing
Conclusion & Questions
 What is Dimethyl Ether?
A clean burning, diesel alternative
Inexpensive
Able to meet strict emissions standards
Used in transportation, agriculture and construction industries
Can be produced from bio or natural gases
 Objective
Design a production process to produce 50,000 metric tons of 99.5 wt%
dimethyl ether using 99 mol% methanol.
Plant operating hours: 8,375 hours per year
 Constraints
Feed Stream: 25 degrees Celsius and 100 kPa
80% single pass conversion @ reactor & 100% overall conversion
Pressure Drops:
Heat Exchangers: 35 kPa
Mixing Points: 10 kPa
Reactor: 50 kPa
Distillation Columns: 15 kPa
 Initial Assumptions
50,000 metric tons of DME in 8,375 hours = 129.8 kilomoles per hour
259.6 kmol/hr methanol required to produce 129.8 kmol/hr DME
Pure methanol recycle stream
The reactor feed enters at 250 degrees Celsius.

2 3 () 3 () + 2 ()
Block Flow Diagram of DME Production
80% Conversion
Methanol
DME 99.5wt%
129.8 kmol/hr

Separator
Reactor

Storage Separator Feed Prep Separator

Methanol
99 mol%
259.6 kmol/hr
Separator Feed
Prep

Wastewater Treatment
Process Flow Diagram of DME Production

18

12 10
11
2
3 4
1

P-1 01 A/B 1
H-1 01 P-1 03 A/B

R-1 01

5 6

5
3 cw
cw
6
8 9 10

E-1 01
T-1 01
7
P-1 02 A/B

13

7 cw
9
cw
8
11
12 15 16
lps

E-1 02

14
T-1 02

17

lps

F ig u re 1: Pro cess F l o w Diag ram o f th e Pro d u ctio n o f Di meth yl Eth er

 Design
1 Storage Tank
3 Pumps
1 Fired Heater
1 Reactor
2 Distillation Columns (Each w/ 2 Heat Exchangers & 1 Reflux Pump)
2 Heat Exchangers
1 Recycle Stream
 Stream Properties
Stream No. 1 10 18 17
Stream Name
Temp C 25.0 44.98 51.04 111.60
Pres kPa 100.0 1010.00 1045.00 155.00
Enth MJ/h -64666 -26673 -17850 -38258
Vapor mole frac. 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Total kmol/h 269.70 132.55 74.11 137.16
Total kg/h 8575.80 6097.18 2249.41 2479.41
Total std L m3/h 10.69 9.06 2.84 2.84
Total std V m3/h 6044.96 2971.08 1661.10 3074.19
Flow rates in kg/h
Dimethyl Ether 0.00 6075.31 78.28 0.00
Methanol 8491.13 21.88 2071.03 19.49
Water 84.67 0.0002 140.10 2459.42
 Equipment Summary
Heat Exchangers E-101 E-102 E-103 E-104 E-105 E-106
Type S&T S&T Kettle S&T S&T Kettle
Area(m2) 45.8 41.6
Duty (MJ/h) -15718 -1454 4046 -3149 -4444 4690
Shell

Temp.( oC) 343 (Tmax) 79 (Tmax) 153 45 51 112

Pres. (kPa) 950 (max) 105 (max) 1060 1010 105 155
Phase V to L V to L L to V V to L V to L L to V
MOC SS CS CS CS CS CS
Vessels/Tower/
Reactors V-101 R-101 T-101 T-102 V-102 V-103
o
Temp.( C) 31 343 153 112 45 51
Pres. (kPa) 1045 1000 1060 155 1010 105
Orientation Horiz. Vertical Vertical Vertical Horiz. Horiz.
MOC CS SS CS CS CS CS

Size

Height/Length (m) 9 15 8.54 9.76 17.5 11.79

Diameter (m) 10 5 0.76 0.76 5.85 3.93
Internals s.p. Sized for 2X 14 Valve 16 Valve
Catalyst Vol. Trays Trays
Tray MOC CS CS CS CS
P-101 P-102 P-103 P-104 P-105
Pumps/Compressors (A/B) (A/B) (A/B) (A/B) (A/B)
Flow (kg/h) 8576 10866 2289 2214 1409
Fluid Density (kg/m 3) 786 654 768 622 768
Power (shaft) (kW) 2.86 0.554 0.778

P-101 P-102 P-103 P-104 P-105

Pumps/Compressors (A/B) (A/B) (A/B) (A/B) (A/B)
Type/Drive Centrif./ Centrif./ Centrif./ Centrif./ Centrif./
Electric Electric Electric Electric Electric
Efficiency (Fluid 1 1 1 1 1
Power/Shaft Power)

MOC CS CS CS CS CS
Temp. (in) ( oC) 25 77 51 45 51
Press. (in) (kPa) 100 915 105 1010 105
Pres. (out) (kPa) 1045 1035 1045 1010 105
 Sizing
Methanol Storage Tank:
Volume-519 m3
Height-9 m
Diameter-10 m

Reactor:
Catalyst Volume-5.89 m3
Reactor Volume-11.78 m3
Height-15 m
Diameter-5 m
 Sizing
Heat Exchangers:
E-101: 45.8 m2
E-102: 41.6 m2

Pump Power:
P-101 A/B- 2.86 kW
P-102 A/B-0.554 kW
P-103 A/B-0.778 kW
 Sizing
Distillation Column 1, T-101:
14 CS valve trays
Height-8.54 m
Diameter-0.76 m

Distillation Column 2, T-102:

16 CS valve trays
Height-9.76 m
Diameter-0.76 m
Economic Information Calculated From Given Information
Revenue From Sales $ 42,944,796 material
CRM (Raw Materials Costs) $ 20,110,251 material
CUT (Cost of Utilities) $ 1,510,000 COM
CWT (Waste Treatment Costs) $ 747,544 material
COL (Cost of Operating Labor) $ 758,030 custom

Factors Used in Calculation of Cost of Manufacturing (COMd)

Comd = 0.18*FCIL + 2.76*COL + 1.23*(CUT + CWT + CRM)
Multiplying factor for FCIL 0.18
Multiplying factor for COL 2.76
Facotrs for CUT, CWT, and CRM 1.23

COMd $ 30,387,551
 NPV
Project 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Revenue $ (42,944,796) $ (42,944,796) $ (42,944,796) $ (42,944,796) $ (42,944,796) $ (42,944,796) $ (42,944,796) $ (42,944,796) $ (42,944,796) $ (42,944,796)
Cost of Manufacturing $ 30,387,551 $ 30,387,551 $ 30,387,551 $ 30,387,551 $ 30,387,551 $ 30,387,551 $ 30,387,551 $ 30,387,551 $ 30,387,551 $ 30,387,551
Depreciation $ 313,207 $ 313,207 $ 313,207 $ 313,207 $ 313,207 $ 313,207 $ 313,207 $ 313,207 $ 313,207 $ 313,207
Net Income before tax $ (12,244,038) $ (12,244,038) $ (12,244,038) $ (12,244,038) $ (12,244,038) $ (12,244,038) $ (12,244,038) $ (12,244,038) $ (12,244,038) $ (12,244,038)
Tax @ 35% $ 4,285,413 $ 4,285,413 $ 4,285,413 $ 4,285,413 $ 4,285,413 $ 4,285,413 $ 4,285,413 $ 4,285,413 $ 4,285,413 $ 4,285,413
Income after tax $ (7,958,624) $ (7,958,624) $ (7,958,624) $ (7,958,624) $ (7,958,624) $ (7,958,624) $ (7,958,624) $ (7,958,624) $ (7,958,624) $ (7,958,624)
Depreciation $ (313,207) $ (313,207) $ (313,207) $ (313,207) $ (313,207) $ (313,207) $ (313,207) $ (313,207) $ (313,207) $ (313,207)
Cash Flow $ 3,132,074 $ (8,271,832) $ (8,271,832) $ (8,271,832) $ (8,271,832) $ (8,271,832) $ (8,271,832) $ (8,271,832) $ (8,271,832) $ (8,271,832) $ (8,271,832)
Discounted Cash Flow ($37,174,326)
NPV $ (34,042,252)

Cummulative Cash Flow $ 3,132,074 $ (5,139,758) $ (13,411,590) $ (21,683,422) $ (29,955,253) $ (38,227,085) $ (46,498,917) $ (54,770,749) $ (63,042,581) $ (71,314,413) $ (79,586,244)
Internal Hurdle Rate 18%
 Conclusion
Based off the NPV spreadsheet there is never a breakeven point

The discounted cash flow over ten years is - $37, 000, 000
 References
Bondiera, J., and C. Naccache. Kinetics of Methanol Dehydration in
Dealuminated H-Mordenite: Model with Acid and Base Active Centres.
Applied Catalysis 69 (1991): 139-148.

DME Basics. Oberion Fuels.

http://www.oberonfuels.com/technology/dme-basics-2/ (accessed
November 30, 2015).