Life cycle energy use and GHG emissions assessment for DME from coal

This study provides an LCA of coal derived DME vehicle fuel cycle. Two DME production systems were evaluated, one is single DME production system, and the other is DME/IGCC cogeneration (polygeneration) system. The effects of CCS technology on energy use and GHG emissions were analyzed. For single DME production design, WTW total energy use and fossil energy is about 80% larger than that for petroleum diesel production, and increases life-cycle GHG emissions by more 200% relative to petroleum diesel. Results for DME/IGCC production design pathway from displacement method are almost the same with the petroleum diesel pathway. CCS incurs an energy penalty of 7-16%. © Copyright 2011 Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. and SAE International.