Washington University researchers score $2.1M DOE grant to improve DME production energy efficiency

In Missouri, engineers at Washington University in St. Louis will be working to improve energy efficiency in production of dimethyl ether (DME) thanks to a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The work is one of 66 projects selected to support “transformational technologies” that reduce energy demand and improve American productivity, according to the DOE.

DME can serve as an alternative fuel to replace diesel gas because of its desirable properties, such as high efficiency of combustion and low emissions of nitric oxide and carbon monoxide. In addition, it can be handled with similar infrastructure that contains liquified petroleum gas.

Sourcing the building blocks for DME production is its own form of waste reduction because the process starts with collecting “waste gases.” These gases are produced in bioproduction. Where there is fermenting living mass, either in the production of food or fuel, there are waste gases that can be collected and turned into something useful.