DME: a Discovery of More (renewable) Energy

I’ve already discussed DME (dimethyl ether), as a huge potential fuel source.  Most renewable energy advocates have never heard of it, but there’s vast potential for it.  DME burns cleanly, gives off no particulates, and is readily available since it is a byproduct of coal extraction, natural gas production, and can be poached from biomass.  Some greenies may scorn DME’s source, but realistically, we are using fossil fuels now:  so why not leech what we can from our energy portfolio, maximizing the efficiency of fossil fuels?

  Sweden’s Volvo has been testing DME-fueled trucks for several years, and is now ready to roll them out.  Sweden has plenty of black liquor (a byproduct of paper and pulp processing) as a result of its forestry related industries.  Fourteen trucks will be tested in the next few years in a program funded in part by the EU and the Swedish Energy Agency.  Chemrec is largest producer of DME in Sweden, and Preem AB, the largest oil company in Sweden, will distribute the fuel.

  Now China is gaining interest in DME.  Many Chinese already use DME as cooking fuel, and now plans are underway for Sinopec, one of the largest oil companies in China, to build the country’s largest coal sourced DME plant by 2010.  Three million tons of DME a year will be produced at this plant alone; on one hand, disturbing considering China’s reliance on coal, but the flip side is that the Chinese will use fuel that otherwise would come from a much dirtier source.

 Even Methanex, the Canadian methanol producer, is getting into the act:  they are currently studying the viability of a DME processing plant at its facility in Patagonian Chile.

At a time when many renewable sources of energy are not quite scalable, DME is gaining traction.  We’re still several years away from large scale DME production in the United States, but stay tuned . . . we have plenty of coal mines and biomass from which we could fuel fleets of trucks.  And when we’re discussing a fuel that burns 95% cleaner, has no particulates, and is abundant, you may be hearing more about DME soon.