Multiobjective Trade-Off in Autothermal Reforming of Dimethyl Ether: A Response-Surface Methodology Based on Entropy Weight Decision

Dimethyl ether (DME) thermal reforming hydrogen production technology has the advantages of fast start-up and high thermal efficiency, which is an important direction of vehicle hydrogen production. However, most of the existing research focuses on the optimization of a single performance index, and it is difficult to take into account the multiperformance objectives such as hydrogen yield, thermal efficiency, and outlet temperature. Based on the reaction and heat and mass transfer mechanism of dimethyl ether autothermal reforming, a multiobjective optimization model combining the response-surface method and entropy weight method was constructed to realize the comprehensive performance prediction and optimal parameter optimization of the vehicle DME hydrogen production process. The results show that the optimal solution predicted by this method at 3 kmol/h is an oxygen–ether ratio of 0.32 and water–ether ratio of 3.8, and the optimal solution predicted at 4 kmol/h is an oxygen–ether ratio of 0.29 and water–ether ratio of 3.2. Compared with the traditional single-objective optimization model, the comprehensive performance is significantly improved. This study proposes a generalized multiobjective parameter optimization idea, which provides new method support for the efficient operation and parameter adaptive control of the vehicle DME hydrogen production system.