Dimethyl ether blended liquefied gas prospects

The standard lag in the blending of dimethyl ether and liquefied petroleum gas is expected to be solved. In the first half of 2013, two related standards for dimethyl ether, "Standard for LPG dimethyl ether mixed gas" and "Liquefied petroleum gas dimethyl ether mixed gas cylinder standard" will be promulgated.

This will solve many problems faced by the blending of dimethyl ether and liquefied gas, which will help the dimethyl ether industry release its production capacity. The above two standards have been listed by the National Energy Administration last year as the second batch of industry standards for the energy sector.

As a clean energy source, dimethyl ether has the advantages of low cost, easy compression, safe use, good combustion performance, and high thermal efficiency, and can be applied to city gas.

Chi Guojing, secretary-general of the China City Gas Association, said that in China, the urban gas sector is a fast-growing market, and the total supply cannot yet meet the needs of economic development.

According to Chi Guojing, the current gas sources for urban gas are mainly artificial gas, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), and natural gas. Due to the high cost of artificial gas, the production process is contaminated and contains poisonous gas, which makes it difficult to develop rapidly. The domestic natural gas supply is limited, there is a lack of gas storage facilities, and large quantities of imports are required, and the price is rising; LPG domestic production can not meet the demand , need a lot of imports.

Chen Weiguo, deputy director of the dimethyl ether special committee, said that dimethyl ether with a concentration greater than 95% could be used directly as a substitute for LPG fuel, and would be an ideal clean fuel to replace LPG.

However, as of July 1, last year, the "National Standard for Municipal Gas DME Emissions" has been formally implemented, dimethyl ether is only burnable as urban gas, and special bottle is required, which means that the dimethyl ether blended liquefied gas route was Sealed dead.

Since March of this year, liquefied petroleum gas has been commonly blended with dimethyl ether in the country's liquefied gas where it has been repeatedly exposed. Tank filling and liquefied gas cylinder filling processes are also extremely irregular.

Compared with liquefied gas, the market price of dimethyl ether is 2,000 to 2,300 yuan per ton cheaper, which makes the phenomenon of blending the two products on the market very common. "Dimethyl ether blended into liquefied gas has become the unspoken rules of the industry," said Li Fayou, sales manager of Shandong Qingda New Energy Co., Ltd.

Due to the large economic benefits, more and more manufacturers have invested in the DME industry in recent years, resulting in overcapacity of DME. The person in charge of the research and development department of Shandong Jiutai Energy Group stated that the production process of dimethyl ether is simple. In recent years, many companies blindly follow suit and have concentrated on a number of projects.

The data show that in 2008 China's dimethyl ether production capacity was 4.9 million tons, as of the end of October this year, the domestic production of normal dimethyl ether production capacity increased to 12.118 million tons, and the production capacity of manufacturers that had not been put into production after completion of production was 300,000 tons. The capacity of the DME plant under construction is 20 million tons.

In April last year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Circular on Regulating the Orderly Development of the Coal Chemical Industry", specifying that construction of a large-scale coal processing and conversion project with an annual output of 1 million tons or less of coal-made dimethyl ether is prohibited before the new approval list is issued.

However, industry insiders said that this did not deter local enthusiasm for investment in the dimethyl ether industry. It is common for the project to wait while it is building. The potential safety hazards of dimethyl ether blending mainly come from two aspects. First, due to its low flash point, there are potential safety hazards in storage and transportation. In the end, how much blending is safe, and there is no clear standard; secondly, dimethyl ether is corrosive. The welding point of ordinary liquefied gas cylinders is corrosive and must be used exclusively for special bottles. Therefore, it is urgent to develop special steel cylinders that meet certain standards.

Nowadays, with the completion of the procedures for the preparation of the "Liquid petroleum gas dimethyl ether mixed gas standard" and "Liquefied petroleum gas dimethyl ether mixed gas cylinder standard", this situation is expected to change.

Li Fayou said that as an alternative energy source, dimethyl ether has been confirmed by domestic and foreign research as a clean fuel that is second only to hydrogen fuel. It is gaseous under normal temperature and pressure, and can be pressurized to 5-6 atmospheres as a liquid. Its physical properties are similar to those of LPG, and it is expected to become one of the major petroleum substitute products.

"The formulation of the two new standards will play a positive role in promoting the formation of the market order of dimethyl ether blended gas and ensuring the good use and safety of dimethyl ether blended gas." Participation in the development of the national standard alcohol fuel According to Deputy Secretary-General of Alcohol and Ethylene Cleaning Automobiles Committee, Jiang Lianbao said that since the raw material of dimethyl ether is methanol, the introduction of the new standard will also release the production capacity of dimethyl ether, which will also play a role in eliminating the excess production capacity of methanol. The role.