The Higher Technical School of Engineering (ETSi) has awarded the Prize for Scientific Article of the Quarter (April-June 2025) to the work entitled “Methanol to dimethyl ether (DME) assessment toward thermochemical energy storage”, Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 509, 1
April 2025, pp. 161-286, authored by Diego Antonio Rodríguez Pastor, Víctor Manuel Soltero Sánchez and Ricardo Chacartegui Ramírez.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2025.161286

The production of alternative renewable fuels is essential for decarbonizing sectors that are difficult to electrify. Dimethyl ether (DME) is an aerosol propellant and a low-emission candidate to replace conventional fuels. The main conventional process for producing DME is the indirect dehydration of methanol obtained from fossil natural gas. This work analyzes the direct use of green methanol for its conversion into renewable DME by integrating a thermochemical energy storage system. This system dissociates methanol into synthesis gas using solar energy and subsequently converts it into DME via the novel direct synthesis process. The integrated systems act as storage methods, using exothermic discharge to produce energy in alternative energy cycles, and also produce high-quality green DME for heat generation in industries, cooking, and as a substitute for fossil diesel.

Three new approaches are proposed: the indirect integration of energy blocks into green methanol-DME processes, the direct synthesis of DME from syngas via solar methanol decomposition, and solar methanol-methanol TCES adapted for DME production. TCES with direct DME synthesis offers overall efficiencies exceeding 20% ​​and competitive LCOE values ​​compared to current CSP with molten salt storage. Methanol-methanol to DME TCES achieves RTEs of up to 30% and levelized costs below €270/MWh. The results demonstrate the potential of the proposed configurations for further development.

The jury of the contest has highlighted the high quality of the publications presented, underlining both the scientific level of the magazines in which they were published and the relevance of the appointments received by the different works. In this context, and after applying various bibliometric indicators, the awarded work was unanimously selected for its theoretical contribution to the field of engineering.

This recognition is part of ETSI's effort to foster and make excellence in the scientific production of its research community.