Two years experience of the BioDME project—A complete wood to wheel concept

Abstract

Dimethyl ether (DME), is an excellent diesel fuel that can be produced through gasification from multiple feedstocks. One particularly interesting renewable feedstock is the energy rich by‐product from the pulping process called black liquor (BL). The concept of utilizing BL as gasifier feed, converting it via syngas to DME and then compensating the withdrawal of BL energy from the pulp mill by supplying biomass to a conventional combined heat and power plant, is estimated to be one of the most efficient conversion concepts of biomass to a renewable fuel on a well‐to‐wheel basis. This concept has been demonstrated by the four‐year BioDME project, including field tests of DME‐fueled heavy‐duty trucks that are operated commercially. Up till the summer of 2013 more than 500 tons of BioDME has been produced and distributed to 10 HD trucks, which in total has run more than 1 million km in commercial service. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 33: 744–750, 2014