Lurgi Megamethanol
Lurgi Megamethanol
Lurgi Megamethanol
Lurgi MegaMethanol®
Lurgi‘sMegaMethanolprocessisanadvancedtechnology Synthesis Gas Production
forconvertingnaturalgastomethanolatlowcostinlarge Thesynthesisgasproductionsectionaccountsformore
quantities.Itpermitstheconstructionofhighlyefficient than50 %ofthecapitalcostofamethanolplant.Thus,
single-trainplantsofatleastdoublethecapacityofthose optimisationofthissectionyieldsasignificantcostbenefit.
builttodate.
Thispavesthewayfornewdownstreamindustrieslike Conventionalsteamreformingiseconomicallyappliedin
Lurgi‘sMTP® processwhichcanusemethanolasacom- small and medium-sized methanol plants, with the maximum
petitivefeedstock. single-train capacity being limited to about 3000 mtpd.
Oxygen-blownnaturalgasreforming,eitherincombination
The MegaMethanol Concept withsteamreformingoraspureautothermalreforming,is
TheLurgiMegaMethanol® technologyhasbeendeveloped todayconsideredtobethebestsuitedtechnologyforlarge
forworld-scalemethanolplantswithcapacitiesgreaterthan syngasplants.
one million metric tons per year. To achieve such a capacity,
a special process design is needed, incorporating advanced Theconfigurationofthereformingprocessmainlydepends
butprovenandreliabletechnology,cost-optimisedenergy onthefeedstockcompositionwhichmayvaryfromlight
efficiency,lowenvironmentalimpactandlowinvestment natural gas (nearly 100 % methane content) to oil-associated
cost. gases.Theaimistogenerateanoptimumsynthesisgas,
Themainprocessfeaturestoachievethesetargetsare: characterisedbythestoichiometricnumbergivenbelow:
Oxygen-blownnaturalgasreforming,eitherincombina-
tionwithsteamreforming,oraspureautothermal
reforming. H2-CO2
SR= =2.0–2.1
Two-stepmethanolsynthesisinwater-andgas-cooled CO+CO2
reactorsoperatingalongtheoptimumreactionroute.
Adjustmentofsyngascompositionbyhydrogenrecycle.
2
Natural Gas Air
Pre-reforming
Autothermal Oxygen
Reforming
Fuel Gas
Methanol Distillation
Pure Methanol
Evenwhenusingpuremethaneasfeedstockforautother-
malreforming,itisnecessarytoconditionthesynthesis
gas,asitsstoichiometricnumberisbelow2.0.Themost
economicwaytoachievetherequiredgascompositionis
toaddhydrogen,withdrawnfromthemethanolsynthesis
purgestreambyamembraneunitorapressureswing
adsorption(PSA)unit.
3
Natural Gas Air
Process Steam
Steam-reforming
Oxygen
Autothermal
Reforming
Purge
Gas
Methanol Synthesis Methanol Production using
Lurgi Combined Reforming
Methanol Distillation
Pure Methanol
Themainadvantageofthecombinedreformingprocess
oversimilarprocessalternativesisthepatentedfeedgas
bypassofthesteamreformer.
Formostnaturalgases,lessthanhalfofthefeedgasis
routedthroughthesteamreformer,theoverallprocess
steam requirements also being roughly halved compared
withotherprocesses,whichuseanautothermalreformer
4
Gas-Cooled Reactor Water-Cooled
(second reactor) Reactor (first reactor)
PC
Saturated
Steam
LC
Boiler
FeedWater
Catalyst
Support
Man- Start-up The Lurgi MegaMethanol® Process
hole Steam
Product Gas
Outlet Catalyst Catalyst
Discharge Discharge
Syngas Inlet
BasedontheLurgiMethanolReactorandthehighlyactive
methanol catalyst with its capability to operate at high
spacevelocities,Lurgihasrecentlydevelopedadualreactor
systemfeaturinghigherefficiency.Theisothermalreactor
iscombinedinserieswithagas-cooledreactor.
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ATLAS MegaMethanol plant
Inaddition,reactioncontrolalsoprolongstheservicelife
ofthecatalystinthewater-cooledreactor.Ifthemethanol
yieldinthewater-cooledreactordecreasesasaresultof
declining catalyst activity, the temperature in the inlet
sectionofthegas-cooledreactorwillrisewitharesulting
improvement in the reaction kinetics and, hence, an increased
yieldinthesecondreactor.
Aftercoolingandseparationofthepurgegas,thecrude
280 methanolisprocessedinthedistillationunit.Inthehydro-
Temperature [C¡]
genrecoveryunit,H2 isseparatedfromthepurgegasand
270 recycledtothesyngasloop.TheremainingCH4-richgas
fractionisusedasfuelgas.
260
ThemostimportantadvantagesoftheCombinedSynthesis
250
Convertersare:
Highsyngasconversionefficiency.Atthesame
240
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 conversionefficiency,therecycleratioisabouthalfof
Catalyst height
Reaction Cooling water theratioinasingle-stage,water-cooledreactor.
Highenergyefficiency.About0.8tof50–60barsteam
forthewater-cooledreactor,theomissionofthelarge
300 feedgas preheater and savings resulting from other
Temperature [C¡]
equipmentduetothelowerrecycleratiotranslateinto
200 specificcostsavingsofabout40 %forthesynthesisloop.
Highsingle-traincapacity.Single-trainplantswithcapaci-
tiesof5000mt/dayandabovecanbebuilt.
100
0
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1
Catalyst height
Reaction Cooling gas
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Areal view of ATLAS
MegaMethanol plant
Methanol Distillation
The crude methanol is purified in an energy-saving 3-column Conventional MegaMethanol
distillationunit. Steam Reforming Concept
With the 3-column arrangement, the low boilers are removed
Capacity mtpd 2500 5000
inthepre-runcolumnandthehigherboilingcomponents
areseparatedintwopuremethanolcolumns.Thefirstpure Natural Gas Demand
based on LHV MMBtu/mt 30 28.5
methanolcolumnoperatesatelevatedpressureandthe
second column at atmospheric pressure. The overhead Capex** % 100 130
vapours of the pressurised column heat the sump of the Opex % 100 97
atmospheric column. Thus, about 40 % of the heating
Production Cost % 100 79
steamand,inturn,about40 %ofthecoolingcapacityare
saved.Thesplitoftherefiningcolumnintotwocolumns ** O2 over the fence
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Lurgiisaleadingtechnologycompanyoperatingworldwide
inthefieldsofprocessengineeringandplantcontracting.
Basedonsyngas,hydrogenproductionandcleanconversion
technologiesforfuelsorchemicalsLurgioffersinnovative
solutionsthatallowtheoperationofenvironmentallycom-
patibleplantswithcleanandenergy-efficientproduction
processes.
Itstechnologicalleadershipisbasedonproprietaryandexclu-
sivelylicensedtechnologieswhichaimtoconvertallcarbon
energyresources(oil,coal,naturalgas,biomass,etc.)inclean
products.
LurgiisamemberoftheAirLiquideGroup.
312e/06.10/10
Lurgi GmbH
Lurgiallee 5 · 60439 Frankfurt am Main · Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 69 5808-0 · Fax: +49 (0) 69 5808-3888
E-mail: communication@lurgi.com · Internet: www.lurgi.com