Methanol Production

Methanol is an alcoholic chemical compound that is considered to be the simplest alcohol. It is a light, colorless, flammable liquid at room temperature and contains less carbon and more hydrogen than any other liquid fuel. The chemical formula for methanol is CH₃OH (often abbreviated as MeOH). Methanol appears naturally in the environment, and quickly breaks down in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Methanol is often called wood alcohol because it was once produced chiefly as a byproduct of the destructive distillation of wood. Today, the most common feedstocks for its production are natural gas and coal. This simple alcohol can be made from virtually anything that is, or ever was, a plant. This includes common fossil fuels–like natural gas, coal and renewable resources like biomass, landfill gas and even power plant emissions and CO2 from the atmosphere.

 

To produce methanol, synthesis gas needs to be created from the feedstock first. Through gasification, synthesis gas can be produced from anything that is or ever was a plant, which includes biomass, agricultural and timber waste, solid municipal waste, recycled carbon dioxide and a number of other feedstocks in addition to natural gas and coal. In a typical facility, methanol production is carried out in two steps. The first step is to convert the feedstock into a synthesis gas consisting of CO, CO₂, H₂O and H₂. This is usually accomplished by the catalytic reforming of feed such as SMR, POX, ATR and Combined Reforming. The second step is the catalytic synthesis of methanol from the synthesis gas.

 

Since the 1800s, methanol has been widely used as an industrial chemical compound to produce a variety of traditional chemical derivatives, including formaldehyde, acetic acid, dimethyl terephthalate, methyl methacrylate and methyl chloride to manufacture a wide range of end products. With its diversity of feedstocks and array of applications, methanol is one of the world’s most widely used industrial chemical. Currently, approximately 60% of the global demand for methanol comes from the industrial chemical market demand and 40% comes from fuels applications demand.

 

The major methanol end-uses in fuels applications include:

1. Gasoline Blendstock. In some countries, methanol is blended directly with gasoline. Methanol has attractive properties as a fuel blending component; it has a high octane number, combusts efficiently, emits fewer harmful by- products than gasoline, and is relatively low-cost.

2. Dimethyl Ether (DME). DME can be used to blend into LPG, as a replacement for LPG fuel in heating and cooking applications, as a transportation fuel in modified diesel engines, and for power generation.

3. Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE). MTBE (an oxygenate) is added to gasoline to increase its octane number. Use of MTBE in a gasoline blend also allows for a cleaner combustion process and emitting less pollution.

4. Biodiesel. Biodiesel is the product obtained when vegetable oil or animal fat is chemically reacted with an alcohol-methanol, for example to produce a compound known as a fatty acid alkyl ester. When methanol is used, the product is Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME).

5. Methanol to Gasoline (MTG). MTG refers to the process of making gasoline via a methanol route. In some ways, MTG is a misnomer, because methanol is often an intermediate in the process, and units are back-integrated to coal or natural gas. Some MTG units in China may run on merchant methanol.

6. Others. Methanol can also be used as a fuel in power generation plants and in methanol fuel cells.

 

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