Concerning oxymethylene dimethyl ethers (e.g. a class of potential oxygenated diesel substitutes; denoted as OME), this work utilises a hybrid process model based on methanol (MeOH) and its partially selective conversion to anhydrous formaldehyde (FA, target MeOH conversion ≥67% and target FA selectivity ≥93%), which in turn is used as the feed for OME synthesis. The model couples the merits of algorithms available in the commercial software CHEMCAD® together with self-developed reactor models as implemented through Matlab® and the coupling node implemented in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) software. This is followed by process heat integration using PinCH 2.0 software. This modelling is complemented by experimental investigations and results concerning the synthesis of the anhydrous FA/MeOH feed through a designed and developed annular counter current reactor, with the use of Na₂CO₃ as an inexpensive and sustainable dehydrogenation catalyst. The process material and energy balance of the proposed process have also been used to evaluate the key performance indicators (KPIs). An overall process yield of 80.3% at 71.7% process energy efficiency and production cost of 951 US$ per ton of OME_3–5 at small production capacity (35 kt per annum) demonstrates the technical and the economic potential of the described process.

中文翻译：

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基于甲醇吸热脱氢的甲醛二甲基醚合成的混合描述和评估†

关于甲醛二甲醚（例如一类潜在的含氧柴油替代品；这项工作利用了基于甲醇（MeOH）及其部分选择性转化为无水甲醛（FA，目标MeOH转化率≥67％，目标FA选择性≥93％）的混合过程模型。 OME合成的提要。该模型将商业软件CHEMCAD®中可用算法的优点与通过Matlab®实现的自行开发的反应堆模型以及在Visual Basic for Applications（VBA）软件中实现的耦合节点结合在一起。接下来是使用PinCH 2.0软件进行过程热集成。通过使用Na的设计和开发的环形逆流反应器合成无水FA / MeOH进料的实验研究和结果可补充此模型₂ CO ₃作为廉价且可持续的脱氢催化剂。拟议过程的过程材料和能量平衡也已用于评估关键性能指标（KPI）。在71.7％的过程能源效率下，总过程产率为80.3％，在小产能（每年35 kt）下，每吨OME _3–5的生产成本为951美元/吨，证明了上述过程的技术和经济潜力。