Modelling and Environmental Aspects of Direct or Indirect Dimethyl Ether Synthesis Using Digestate as Feedstock

Abstract

The conversion of waste and residues towards high added value products has receiving a growing attention, as a reliable strategy to improve sustainability of emergent processes. Anaerobic digestion converts organic waste into biogas and digestate. While biogas may be used for energetic purpose, digestate has limited uses and with a low profitability. In this paper, dimethyl ether (DME) is adopted as target product which may be produced from digestate-derived syngas. Process simulation is carried out for both direct and indirect synthesis of DME and environmental aspects are assessed.