Boreskov Institute of Catalysis of the Siberian Branch of Russian ...

OP-III-21THE WAY OF METHANOL PRODUCTION:NEW TRENDS TOWARD INCREASING PROCESS PROFITABILITYE.V. Pisarenko and V.N. PisarenkoMendeleyev University of Chemical Technology,Moscow, Miusskaya square, 9; tel.: (7499) 978-65-89, e-mail: evpisarenko@mail.ru.In Russia, there is currently a significant demand for high-octane environmentally cleanmotor fuels [1-2]. Natural gas conversion to motor fuels and the key products of chemicalsynthesis is usually performed by two processes, namely, the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis andthe Mobil process. In both processes, hydrocarbon products are obtained from synthesis gas.However, the selectivity of the Mobil process with respect to hydrocarbon components ofgasolines is higher. These components are synthesized in the Mobil process by synthesis gasconversion to methanol and/or dimethyl ether conversion to motor fuel hydrocarbons.Consequently, it is of prime importance to improve technologies for methanol productionfrom natural gas [3]. Methanol production will occupy a key place in industry if the cost ofproduced methanol can be reduced by 15–20%.Known industrial technologies for methanol production from natural gas are analyzed.Their main advantages and disadvantages are determined, and a new methanol synthesistechnology without feed circulation is proposed, which, in particular, is also applicable at asignificant nitrogen content of the synthesis gas feed.To predict the operation of equipment with high energy and resource savings, it isnecessary to construct new models that would allow one to calculate the concentrations of thedesired products and the byproducts in individual stages of methanol production with highaccuracy. The purpose of this work is to analyze and model the process of natural gasconversion to methanol in order to enhance this process for reducing the product cost. Thedevelopment of new highly profitable industrial processes for synthesizing methanol fromnatural gas could provide a way to use the fields of natural gas in which the gas is at variousstratum pressures for the production of oxygenated diesel and hydrocarbon motor fuels.The results of the experimental investigation of the kinetics of methanol synthesis and themodeling of this process in catalytic reactors revealed a region in which methanol synthesis ishighly selective. In the crude methanol obtained by the new technology the concentration ofbyproduct water is several times lower than that in currently produced industrial crudemethanol. It is experimentally shown that regions of highly selective synthesis gas conversioncan be formed in catalytic reactors by regularizing the catalyst beds, adding inert heat-transfermedia to the feed, and externally heating the catalyst beds. Note that the crude methanol131