Butterfly: Application of Dimethyl Ether Syngas from Renewable Sources for the Steel Industry
Horizon Europe, 1 July 2023 to 31 December 2026
Project description
The Butterfly project is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme and is coordinated by the European Commission. The acronym “Butterfly” stands for the project title “Biomass Utilized to the Extended Portfolio of Renewable Fuels with Large Yields.”
The objective of the project is to utilize organic residual biomass for the production of fuels. In particular, the production of synthetic natural gas (SNG) and renewable dimethyl ether (rDME) is being investigated. These gases are also assessed with regard to their application in hard-to-decarbonize sectors, such as the transport sector and industry.
Tasks of the IOB
The project is structured into three thematic areas: renewable raw materials, process engineering–based product development, and industrial application. Within the application-oriented work package, the Department for Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering (IOB) at RWTH Aachen University, in collaboration with the steel producer CELSA, is responsible for the evaluation and modeling of the use of various synthesis gases (SNG and rDME) in thermo-metallurgical processes. A central element of this work is the design and operation of two experimental test rigs at the IOB’s pilot-scale facilities.
One test rig is dedicated to investigating endogas generation for carburizing processes, comparing endogas produced from DME with that generated from natural gas. Further experiments are conducted on an existing burner test rig, which is first retrofitted and process-engineered to enable operation with DME. This test rig then allows the investigation of four different fuels (natural gas, propane, hydrogen, and DME), both as single fuels and in binary fuel mixtures. In addition to the experimental work, single-burner simulations are carried out and validated using the results obtained from the combustion chamber experiments.
Project goals
- Investigation of the suitability of synthetic natural gas (SNG) and renewable dimethyl ether (rDME) as fuels for thermo-metallurgical processes in the steel industry
- Design, construction, and operation of two experimental test rigs at the IOB for the experimental investigation of endogas generation and the conversion of existing burner systems
- Testing of various gas mixtures (CH₄, C₃H₈, H₂, DME) under industrially relevant operating conditions
- Execution and validation of single-burner simulations for combustion chamber experiments
- Derivation of insights into process engineering implementation and the industrial applicability of DME-based synthesis gases in the steel industry
Project participants
Contact
Funding
This work has been performed as part of BUTTERFLY project which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101118241.