536
converted directly to high-quality gasoline. Besides, there is no need for separate
durene reduction unit. It is further claimed that the Primus process is more energy
efficient, requires lower investment cost and amenable for easy scale up.
Sector wise utilization of ethanol (Fig. 23) shows that nearly 50% of the demand
is in automobile sector as fuel additive, for blending with gasoline, the other major
application being in the food and beverages industry [240]. In contrast to methanol
share (Fig. 3) of 64% for chemicals (including 24% for MTO), the usage of ethanol
in chemical industry is around ~30%, only, including chemicals, personal care products, pharmaceuticals and others.
Catalytic conversion of Ethanol to Gasoline (ETG) has been studied extensively
[166], though its large-scale application, like MTG process, is yet to emerge.
However, of recent, few processes for conversion of ethanol to diesel and jet fuels
Automotive
Food and
Beverages
Chemicals
Perosnal Care
and Cosmetics
Pharmaceuticals
Others
Fig. 23 Sector-wise
utilization of ethanol [240]
Blending
LPG
Light
Gasoline
LPG
C2Stabilizer
DeEthanier
Compressor
MTG Reactor
(Multiple)
DME
Reactor
Stabilizer
Splitter HGT
Reactor
Heavy
Gasoline
Treated
Gasoline
Stabilized
Gasoline
Finished
Gasoline
Fig. 22 Simplified process flow diagram for EMRE-MTG process [236]
R. Vinayagamoorthi et al.