Process simulation and cost estimation of production of dimethyl ether from indirect synthesis of methanol

According to environmental crises, production of dimethyl ether is becoming more important in current industry as a clean (environmental friendly) energy source and also high heating value. In this study, production process of dimethyl ether from indirect synthesis of methanol in presence of HZMS-5 catalyst, is simulated in Hysys process simulation software. On the basis of cost estimation, it was found that the capital investment of this process is greatly influenced by cost of distillation towers and these are about 62 percent of equipment costs. Accordingly, in this study, in addition to estimation of capital investment of aforementioned process and equipment costs, an attempt was made to assess the costs related to energy consumption, operation costs and innovations which were proposed to reduce the mentioned costs.