Dimethyl ether production via dry reforming and dimethyl ether synthesis in a vessel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11787759-B2
Application number	US-202117401029-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 12, 2021
Priority date	Aug 12, 2021
Publication date	Oct 17, 2023
Grant date	Oct 17, 2023

Abstract

A system and method for producing dimethyl ether (DME) via dry reforming and DME synthesis in the same vessel, including converting methane and carbon dioxide in the vessel into syngas (including hydrogen and carbon monoxide) via dry reforming in the vessel, cooling the syngas via a heat exchanger in the vessel, and synthesizing DME from the syngas in the vessel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of producing dimethyl ether (DME) via dry reforming and DME synthesis, the method comprising:
providing feed comprising methane and carbon dioxide to a vessel;
converting methane and carbon dioxide in the vessel into syngas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide via dry reforming in the vessel;
cooling the syngas via a heat exchanger in the vessel;
synthesizing DME from the syngas in the vessel; and
discharging effluent from the vessel, the effluent comprising the DME.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein synthesizing the DME comprises forming methanol from the syngas and forming DME by dehydrating the methanol.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising processing the effluent as discharged to remove components from the effluent to give the DME as product, the components comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide.

4. The method of claim 3 , comprising recycling the hydrogen, the carbon monoxide, and the carbon dioxide removed from the effluent to the vessel.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting the methane and the carbon dioxide in the vessel comprises converting the methane and the carbon dioxide via dry reforming catalyst in the vessel into the syngas, and wherein synthesizing the DME comprises synthesizing the DME from the syngas via DME synthesis catalyst in the vessel.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising adding hydrogen to the vessel to increase a molar ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide of the syngas.

7. A method of producing dimethyl ether (DME), comprising:
converting methane and carbon dioxide via a dry reforming catalyst in a dry reforming section in a reactor vessel into syngas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide, wherein the converting comprises dry reforming;
flowing the syngas from the dry reforming section through a heat exchange section in the reactor vessel to cool the syngas with a cooling medium in the heat exchange section;
flowing the syngas as cooled from the heat exchange section to a DME synthesis section in the reactor vessel; and
synthesizing DME from the syngas via a DME synthesis catalyst in the DME synthesis section.

8. The method of claim 7 , comprising:
providing feed comprising the methane and the carbon dioxide to the dry reforming section in the reactor vessel, wherein synthesizing DME from the syngas comprises forming methanol from the syngas via the DME synthesis catalyst and dehydrating the methanol via the DME synthesis catalyst to give the DME; and
discharging effluent comprising the DME from the reactor vessel.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the heat exchange section comprises a heat exchanger that cools the syngas with the cooling medium, and wherein flowing the syngas from the dry reforming section through the heat exchange section comprises flowing the syngas through the heat exchanger.

10. The method of claim 7 , comprising processing effluent comprising the DME discharged from the reactor vessel to remove hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide from the effluent to give the DME as product.

11. The method of claim 10 , comprising providing at least one of the hydrogen, the carbon monoxide, or the carbon dioxide removed from the effluent to the dry reforming section.

12. The method of claim 10 , comprising providing at least one of the hydrogen, the carbon monoxide, or the carbon dioxide removed from the effluent to the DME synthesis section.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Solami Bandar
• Jamal Aqil
• Lee Kunho

Classifications

• C07C41/09 Primary

  by dehydration of compounds containing hydroxy groups · CPC title

• B01J8/02

  with stationary particles, e.g. in fixed beds · CPC title

• B01J19/0013

  Controlling the temperature of the process · CPC title

• B01J19/24

  Stationary reactors without moving elements inside (B01J19/08, B01J19/26 take precedence; with stationary particles B01J8/02) · CPC title

• C07C29/151

  with hydrogen or hydrogen-containing gases · CPC title