N,N-Dimethylformamide, DMF product to storage

Activity N,N-Dimethylformamide by carbonylation of dimethylamine (50 kt/a, sodium methoxide in methanol), GLO: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently revieweddmf-1:n-n-dimethylformamide-by-dma-carbonylation-50-kt-a:product:DMFPPreliminaryReport a problem with this dataset
Research outputAn inventory from a research design at the design maturity its process states, not verified plant data: check its calculation maturity and review status before use. Background activities are referenced by name only; no background data is included. All caveats

What it is

Unallocated foreground LCI of N,N-Dimethylformamide by DMA carbonylation (50 kt/a), case design, derived from the flowsheet by cheme assess lca.

Reference product
1 kilogram of N,N-Dimethylformamide, DMF product to storage (3 bar(a), 40 degC, 99.997 % DMF (mass))
Chemical
dimethylformamide
CAS
68-12-2
Code
dmf-1:n-n-dimethylformamide-by-dma-carbonylation-50-kt-a:product:DMFP
Dataset
n-n-dimethylformamide-by-dma-carbonylation-50-kt-a version 0.1.0 · UUID 804fb251-d98b-589b-bd26-6064c480e92c
Activity UUID
not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348 (version preview-c3ab348)
Process
N,N-Dimethylformamide by carbonylation of dimethylamine (50 kt/a, sodium methoxide in methanol)
Geography
GLO · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period
2026 · valid until 2031
Technology
one-step carbonylation of dimethylamine with CO, sodium methoxide in methanol, 363 K and 2.2 MPa, in-situ catalyst deactivation, salt filtration, two-column distillation; 50 kt/a concept design · level current
Boundary
gate-to-gate foreground of the plant
Production volume
50,000,000 kg/a (product:DMFP per hour x operation.hours_per_year (8000 h/a))
Classification
ISIC Rev.4 2011 (taxonomy/families.yaml (ISIC Rev.4) of the process's families)
System model
attributional, cut-off (docs/system-model.md, methodology 1.1.0)
Allocation
mass, 100 % of the dataset to this product (rule single-output, from default)
one product: nothing to allocate
Rights
CC-BY-4.0: the ChemE-as-Code process library's own concept design (LICENSE-DATA)

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of N,N-Dimethylformamide, DMF product to storage

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 9 assumed, 2 calculated. Pedigree scores (1 best, 5 worst): reliability, completeness, temporal correlation, geographical correlation, further technological correlation.

Preliminary6 exchanges are not yet linked to a background dataset. They count no burden, so the inventory is incomplete: do not read a result from it as complete.
InputAmountUnitProvenancePedigreeLinked to
Dimethylamine, anhydrous (from methylamines-1)
feed:DMA
stream S1 (ASSUMED flow from scripts/dmf_balance.py, D-006)
From stream S1
0.6244kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas (pinned): Methylamines (MMA, DMA, TMA) from methanol and ammonia (Anhydrous dimethylamine to storage, GLO)
compatible: grade the input names no chemical only; dimethylamine (Anhydrous dimethylamine to storage) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (deviation); boundary plant gate (pinned): no distribution or losses; the consumer's dataset counts its delivery
Carbon monoxide 99.5 mol% (from a syngas CO separation unit)
feed:CO
stream S2 (ASSUMED flow, D-004, D-006)
From stream S2
0.4074kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Sodium methoxide 30 wt% in methanol (catalyst)
feed:CAT
stream S3 (ASSUMED rate 0.75 wt% NaOMe on DMA, US 4,098,820 examples, D-007)
From stream S3
0.01584kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Electric power
feed:POWER
energy streams Q1, Q3, Q4, Q8, Q11 (ASSUMED duties, D-010)
electricity
From streams Q1, Q3, Q4, Q8, Q11
0.04314kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
MP steam 1100 kPa(a)
feed:MPS
energy stream Q6, C-201 reboiler (ASSUMED duty, D-010)
steam, MP, 184.45 degC, 11 bar(a)
From stream Q6
0.2078kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
LP steam 450 kPa(a)
feed:LPS
energy stream Q9, C-202 reboiler (ASSUMED duty, D-010)
steam, LP, 147.65 degC, 4.5 bar(a)
From stream Q9
0.2229kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
Reactor vent gas to thermal oxidiser
product:VENT
stream S8 (ASSUMED vent composition, D-008)
From stream S8
0.02214kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Sodium formate filter cake to disposal
product:CAKE
stream S10, calculated by cheme from F-101 (ASSUMED recovery and cake liquor, D-008)
From stream S10
0.007896kilogramcalculated3 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Methanol purge (with DMA) to recovery or incineration
product:PURGE
stream S13, calculated by cheme from the splitter SPL (purge fraction from scripts/dmf_balance.py, D-009)
From stream S13
0.007372kilogramcalculated3 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Heavy residue of the DMF column to incineration
product:RESID
stream S17 (ASSUMED 1 % of the C-202 DMF feed, D-009)
From stream S17
0.01016kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Cooling water return
product:CW
energy streams Q2, Q5, Q7, Q10 (ASSUMED duties, D-010)
cold, 25 degC
From streams Q2, Q5, Q7, Q10
0.8811kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas (plant): cooling water service, per kWh heat rejected (Atlas screening proxy) (heat rejected to cooling water, GLO)
compatible: grade the input names cooling-water only; cooling-water (Heat rejected to cooling water, 25/35 degC) is taken; unit kilowatt hour; carrier cold, 25 degC from cold, 25 degC; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)

Elementary flows

No elementary flows are exported for this activity (pass-through emissions and free inputs are left out, see the caveats).

The streams are the plant's own flows: an amount here is allocated and per 1 kilogram of N,N-Dimethylformamide, DMF product to storage, so it differs from the stream's flow, and it can sum several streams.

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/dmf-1/lca/dataset.yaml in library version c3ab348.

Used by

No other activity of this database links to it.

How good it is

Review
Not reviewed: no LCI review record yet
Data quality
DQR 2.33 · PEF-style DQR 2.7
TeR 3 · GeR 3 · TiR 1 · P 3.82 · C 4 · weakest TeR · primary data 0 %
Mass and carbon closure
Assessed (lca/manifest.json balance, tolerance 5 %: design maturity concept (sourced screening))
  • lci-carbon-origin: closed
  • lci-element-balance: closed
  • lci-mass-balance: closed
Change report
Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

Not available: no benchmarked KPI for this dataset.

How to use it

Downloads

A file with this activity alone is not available: each file above is the whole database, and the line under it says how to find this activity there.

import bw2data as bd
from cheme_as_code_lci import install

bd.projects.set_current("my-project")   # holds your licensed background + biosphere3
install("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348", "dmf-1:n-n-dimethylformamide-by-dma-carbonylation-50-kt-a:product:DMFP"))

While any exchange of the database has no mapping, install() writes nothing and only lists the unlinked exchanges. So the last line finds no activity until the gaps are mapped: the download section gives the ways to use the database now.

How to cite

N,N-Dimethylformamide, DMF product to storage, from N,N-Dimethylformamide by carbonylation of dimethylamine (50 kt/a, sodium methoxide in methanol) (dataset n-n-dimethylformamide-by-dma-carbonylation-50-kt-a 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-c3ab348, activity dmf-1:n-n-dimethylformamide-by-dma-carbonylation-50-kt-a:product:DMFP. Cite the Process Atlas paper (in preparation, 2026), by Artur M. Schweidtmann and Jana M. Weber, and the ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database version preview-c3ab348.

DOI: none yet (the Process Atlas paper is in preparation)

For the data, cite the Process Atlas paper; for the platform that builds and checks it, the ChemE-as-Code paper.

Schweidtmann, A. M. & Weber, J. M. (2026, in preparation). Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title).

BibTeX
@unpublished{schweidtmann_process_atlas,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M. and Weber, Jana M.},
  title = {{Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://atlas.cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}

Schweidtmann, A. M. (2026, in preparation). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title).

BibTeX
@unpublished{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}