Most all this discussion was over my head but it did raise a couple thoughts. I know the Nazis used coal to produce gasoline (more or less) but I’d read the gasoline produced this way was inferior and reduced its efficiency enough to hurt the performance of their fighter planes. So what was that net effect? Poorer octane?

Anyways I’m no chemist for sure. I also noticed they talked about hydro cracking, something I don’t understand but I worked one summer at an oil refinery and one of our jobs was replacing the refractory in a cracking vessel. I can’t remember if it was for hydro-cracking or cat-cracking. I’d heard both of those terms but I think they were different processes. At any rate it was a nasty job. A half dozen of us chipping off the old refractory inside a steel vessel with air chisels. I’m sure I damaged my hearing.

It is easily liquefied, having a boiling point of around -24°C and a critical temperature of around 128°C, above the boiling point of water.

This means like propane, or LPG, it is easily liquified and stored as a liquid, and like propane, can act as a refrigerant.

Unlike propane and LPG, it is not a climate forcing gas; it's atmospheric half-life is about 5 days.

Because it lacks a carbon carbon bond, when combusted, it forms almost no particulates, although it is mildly subject, as all carbon based fuels are, to Boudouard reaction type carbon formation when burned with insufficient oxygen. The Boudouard reaction accounts for the carbon deposited in refinery reactors that on which you you worked: 2CO = CO2 + C

Because of this DME has a low pollution potential. It is easily removed from water in spills simply by aeration, it is essentially soluble in water and thus forms no harmful toxic slicks. It is generally nontoxic but exhibits a mild anesthetic effect similar to, but weaker than that by its ethyl analogue, ethyl ether. It has replaced CFC's in hairspray cans, which is its current main use.

It is well known that diesel engines can run on DME; Volvo is pushing for this idea. Thus it can displace petroleum fuels as well as natural gas, LPG, propane, etc. It will also work in spark engines. The modifications to internal combustion engines are relatively simple, involving compatible seals, carburetion adjustments, and fuel tank changes.

A diesel engine operating on DME, formed by using nuclear primary energy for a captive hydrogen source, would be less polluting than electric cars, diesels, hybrids, etc, etc, etc, and far less stupid dangerous and wasteful than the idiotic hydrogen hydra that has refused to die, cropping up big time every ten years or so, even after half a century of very, very, very, very stupid and dangerous hype.

It's cetane number is higher than diesel fuel, but its volumetric energy density is lower.

It would be entirely climate neutral, and in fact, would create a market for carbon dioxide as an industrial precursor.

It can drop in, without any major changes, to all the dangerous natural gas pipelines that lace the planet, now driving climate change. No major infrastructure change is required.

DME has not achieved the status it should because the world is conservative; we believe that everything should be done the same way it has always been done.

The DME Association is here: International DME Association.

The physical properties of DME are described here: NIST DME

Thanks for asking.