Techno-Economic Analysis of Large Scale Production of Poly(oxymethylene) Dimethyl Ether Fuels from Methanol in Water-Tolerant Processes

Poly(oxymethylene) dimethyl ether (OME) are a much-discussed and promising synthetic renewable fuel for reducing soot and, if produced as e-fuel, CO2 emissions. OME production is generally based on the platform chemical methanol an intermediate. Thus, cost strongly dependent cost. This work investigates from methanol. Seven routes providing methanolic formaldehyde solutions conceptually designed first time simulated in process simulator. They coupled with state-of-the-art synthesis to evaluate economics of overall chain OME. For plant size 100 kt/a, average levelized product 79.08 EUR/t plus 1.31 times EUR/t.