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.

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 Natural Gas Air

Desulfurization Air separation

Pre-reforming

Autothermal Oxygen
Reforming

Fuel Gas

Methanol Production using Lurgi

Hydrogen Autothermal Reforming
Methanol Synthesis
Recovery

Methanol Distillation

Pure Methanol

Autothermal Reforming Comparedtoitscompetitors,Lurgihasthemostreferences

Pureautothermalreformingcanbeappliedforsyngas andexperienceforthisreformingtechnology.Thisprocess
productionwheneverlightnaturalgasisavailableasfeed- hasbeenimplementedinLurgiplantssincethe1950s.
stocktotheprocess. Significantprogressinoptimisingdesignandassuringplant
availabilitywasachievedattheendofthe1980swhen
Thedesulfurisedandoptionallypre-reformedfeedstockis reliablesimulationtoolsbecameavailable.
reformedwithsteamtosynthesisgasatabout40barand
higherusingoxygenasreformingagent.Theprocessgener- With the help of a proprietary, three-dimensional
atesacarbon-freesynthesisgasandoffersgreatoperating ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)model,gasflowsand
flexibilityoverawiderangetomeetspecificrequirements. temperatureprofilesweresimulatedwiththeobjectiveof
Reformer outlet temperatures are typically in the range designingburnerandreactorasanintegratedunit.
of 950–1050 °C. The synthesis gas is compressed in a single-
casing synthesis gas compressor with integrated recycle
stagetothepressurerequiredformethanolsynthesis.

Evenwhenusingpuremethaneasfeedstockforautother-
malreforming,itisnecessarytoconditionthesynthesis
gas,asitsstoichiometricnumberisbelow2.0.Themost
economicwaytoachievetherequiredgascompositionis
toaddhydrogen,withdrawnfromthemethanolsynthesis
purgestreambyamembraneunitorapressureswing
adsorption(PSA)unit.

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 Natural Gas Air

Desulfurization Air Separation

Process Steam

Steam-reforming

Oxygen
Autothermal
Reforming

Purge
Gas
Methanol Synthesis Methanol Production using
Lurgi Combined Reforming

Methanol Distillation

Pure Methanol

Combined Reforming downstreamofthesteamreformerwithoutsuchabypass.

Forheavynaturalgasesandoil-associatedgases,the The lower process steam consumption translates into
requiredstoichiometricnumbercannotbeobtainedbypure reducedenergyrequirementsandlowerinvestment.
autothermalreforming,evenifallhydrogenavailableis
recyled.Fortheseapplications,theLurgiMegaMethanol® The Lurgi Combined Reforming Process is also ideal to
conceptcombinesautothermalandsteamreformingasthe generatesynthesisgasfortheFischer-Tropschsynthesis.
mosteconomicwaytogeneratesynthesisgasformethanol Theworld‘slargestplantofthistypewasbuiltbyLurgiin
plants.Afterdesulfurisation,afeedgasbranchstreamis SouthAfrica.Thesynthesisgascapacityofthisplantwould
decomposedinasteamreformerathighpressure besufficienttoproduceabout9,000mtpdmethanol.
(35–40bar)andrelativelylowtemperature(700–800 °C).
Thereformedgasisthenmixedwiththeremainderofthe
feedgasandreformedtosyngasathighpressureinthe
autothermalreactor.Thisconcepthasbecomeknownas
theLurgiCombinedReformingProcess.

Themainadvantageofthecombinedreformingprocess
oversimilarprocessalternativesisthepatentedfeedgas
bypassofthesteamreformer.

Formostnaturalgases,lessthanhalfofthefeedgasis
routedthroughthesteamreformer,theoverallprocess
steam requirements also being roughly halved compared
withotherprocesses,whichuseanautothermalreformer

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 Gas-Cooled Reactor Water-Cooled
(second reactor) Reactor (first reactor)
PC
Saturated
Steam
LC
Boiler
FeedWater

Preheated Gas inlet

Syngas

Catalyst
Support
Man- Start-up The Lurgi MegaMethanol® Process
hole Steam
Product Gas
Outlet Catalyst Catalyst
Discharge Discharge
Syngas Inlet

Methanol Synthesis The first reactor, the isothermal reactor, accomplishes

Efficientsyngas-to-methanolconversionisessentialforlow- partialconversionofthesyngastomethanolathigher
costmethanolproduction.Inaddition,optimumutilisation spacevelocitiesandhighertemperaturescomparedwith
ofreactionheatofferscostadvantagesandenergysavings single-stage synthesis reactors. This results in a significant
fortheoverallplant.Fromtheverybeginningofthelow- size reductionofthewater-cooledreactorcomparedto
pressuretechnologyera,Lurgihasequippeditsmethanol conventional processes, while the steam raised is available
plantswithatubularreactorwhichtransferstheheatof at a higherpressure.
reactiontoboilingwater. The methanol-containing gas leaving the first reactor is
routed to a second downstream reactor without prior
TheLurgiMethanolReactorisbasicallyaverticalshelland cooling.Inthisreactor,coldfeedgasforthefirstreactoris
tubeheatexchangerwithfixedtubesheets.Thecatalystis routedthroughtubesinacountercurrentflowwiththe
accommodatedintubesandrestsonabedofinertmate- reactinggas.Thus,thereactiontemperatureiscontinuously
rial.Thewater/steammixturegeneratedbytheheatof reducedoverthereactionpathinthesecondreactor,and
reactionisdrawnoffbelowtheuppertubesheet.Steam theequilibriumdrivingforceformethanolsynthesismain-
pressurecontrolpermitsexactcontrolofthereactiontem- tained over the entire catalyst bed. The large inlet gas
perature. This isothermal reactor achieves very high yields preheater normally required for synthesis by a single
at low recycle ratios and minimizes the production of water-cooledreactorisreplacedbyarelativelysmalltrim
by-products. preheater.

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

Water-Cooled Reactor pertonofmethanolcanbegeneratedinthereactor.

Inaddition,asubstantialpartofthesensibleheatcanbe
recoveredatthegas-cooledreactoroutlet.
 Low investment cost. The reduction in the catalyst volume

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

Temperature Profile Gas-Cooled Reactor

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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

allowsforveryhighsingle-traincapacities. Economics of the MegaMethanol Concept

Economics of MegaMethanol References

Feedstockcostandcapital-relatedchargesarethemajor Uptotheendof2009,Lurgihasreceived10contractsfor
parametersforproductioncost.Thetablebesideillustrates MegaMethanolplants,withcapacitiesrangingbetween
thefeedstockconsumption,thecapitalinvestmentandthe 0.67and2.3milliontonsperyear.
resultingproductioncostforaconventionalsteamreform-
ingplantandMegaMethanolplant.Theresultsshowthat
thehighefficiencyoftheprocessandthelowcapitalinvest-
mentcostofaMegaMethanolplantpermitasignificant
reduction of the methanol cost.The resulting long-term,
stable and low methanol prices may pave the way for a
wideruseofmethanol,bothintheenergysectorandasa
feedstockinthepetrochemicalsector.

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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