Use of renewable energy in methanol synthesis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12065398-B2
Application number	US-202017310074-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2020
Priority date	Jan 15, 2019
Publication date	Aug 20, 2024
Grant date	Aug 20, 2024

Abstract

A methanol synthesis plant comprising: a feed pretreating section operable to pretreat a feed stream; a synthesis gas (syngas) generation section comprising one or more reactors operable to produce a syngas synthesis product stream comprising synthesis gas from the feed stream; a methanol synthesis section comprising one or more methanol synthesis reactors operable to produce a synthesis product comprising methanol; and/or a methanol purification section operable to remove at least one component from the synthesis product to provide a purified methanol product; wherein the methanol synthesis plant is configured such that, relative to a conventional methanol synthesis plant, more of the net energy required by the methanol synthesis plant, the feed pretreating section, the syngas generation section, the methanol synthesis section, the methanol purification section, or a combination thereof, is provided by a non-carbon based energy source, a renewable energy source, and/or electricity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A methanol synthesis plant comprising:
a feed pretreating section operable to pretreat a feed stream comprising LPG, naphtha, biogas, methane, ethane, propane, butane, naphtha boiling range components, coal, petcoke, or a combination thereof;
a synthesis gas (syngas) generation section comprising one or more reactors selected from pre-reformers, steam reformers, dry reformers, partial oxidation reactors, autothermal reformers, gasifiers, or a combination thereof and operable to produce a syngas synthesis product stream comprising synthesis gas from the feed stream;
a methanol synthesis section comprising one or more methanol synthesis reactors operable to produce a synthesis product comprising methanol; and
a methanol purification section operable to remove at least one component from the synthesis product to provide a purified methanol product;
wherein methanol synthesis plant consumes greater than or equal to 20 MW of electricity,
wherein an amount of CO 2 produced per ton of methanol is less than 0.3 tons CO 2 per ton of methanol, and
wherein a net specific energy consumption is less than 34 GJ/ton methanol.

2. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , wherein a carbon efficiency is greater than or equal to 82%.

3. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , wherein the methanol synthesis plant is configured to attain a predetermined syngas generation temperature within at least one of the one or more reactors without externally combusting a dedicated fuel, a non-renewable carbon-based fuel, or a fossil fuel.

4. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , wherein the methanol synthesis plant does not include a flue gas heat recovery section.

5. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more reactors are configured to be heated to a predetermined syngas generation temperature via heating from electricity and associated convective, conductive, radiant, or inductive heat transfer means.

6. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , wherein:
other than the production of steam for use in the one or more reactors, steam is not utilized as a primary energy transfer medium; or
no steam is utilized for mechanical work.

7. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , further comprising cooling apparatus downstream of each of the one or more reformers; cooling apparatus downstream of a final of the one or more reformers; cooling apparatus downstream of a water-gas shift reactor; cooling apparatus downstream of the syngas generation section and configured to condense water out of a reformer product stream; cooling apparatus downstream from one or more of the one or more methanol synthesis reactors; cooling apparatus within the methanol purification section; or a combination thereof, wherein at least 50% of a net energy for the cooling apparatus is electrically provided.

8. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , wherein the methanol synthesis plant is configured to store energy in one or more forms selected from the list of forms consisting of: compressed feed, compressed hydrogen, cryogenic liquids, heat, electrical energy, or a combination thereof, such that the stored compressed feed, compressed hydrogen, cryogenic liquids, heat, and/or electrical energy can be utilized when renewable electricity is not available.

9. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , further comprising a fractionation apparatus configured to fractionate a purge gas to produce a methane stream, and a methanation reactor configured to, either prior to or subsequently to the fractionation, convert carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the purge gas to methane.

10. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 9 , configured for combustion of less than or equal to about 50 weight percent (wt %) of the purge gas.

11. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , wherein the methanol synthesis plant is configured to co-produce hydrogen as a byproduct, and the methanol synthesis plant further comprises:
a hydrogen separation apparatus, optionally downstream from the methanol synthesis section, configured to separate hydrogen produced in the reformer from a purge gas, thus providing a separated hydrogen,
a hydrogen purification apparatus configured to purify the separated hydrogen, thus providing a purified hydrogen; and
one or more fuel cells operable to make electricity from the purified hydrogen.

12. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , wherein the methanol synthesis plant is configured for the production of less than or equal to about two tons of a combustion flue gas produced via combustion of a fuel per ton of methanol produced.

13. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , configured for:
introduction of carbon dioxide upstream of the one or more methanol synthesis reactors to consume extra hydrogen, balance the heat in the one or more methanol synthesis reactors, and allow for the electric conversion of CO 2 to methanol; or
introduction of CO 2 to a water gas shift (WGS) reactor.

14. The methanol synthesis plant according to claim 1 , configured for the production of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) by combustion in the syngas generation section to add heat to the syngas generation section and reduce heat generation in the one or more methanol synthesis reactors.

15. A method of producing methanol in a methanol synthesis plant, the method comprising:
(a) subjecting a feed comprising methane, ethane, propane, butane, LPG, naphtha, biogas, or a combination thereof to reforming to produce a reformer product comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen, wherein a reforming temperature is maintained by a net heat input Q 1 ;
(b) cooling the reformer product to produce a cooled reformer product by effecting a net heat removal Q 2 ;
(c) shifting the reformer product to produce a shifted reformer product;
(d) cooling the shifted product by effecting a net heat removal Q 3 ;
(e) cooling and condensing water from the reformer product by effecting a net heat removal Q 4 to provide a purified reformer product;
(f) compressing the purified reformer product;
(g) heating the compressed, purified reformer product by a net heat input Q 5 to provide a methanol synthesis feed;
(h) producing a product comprising methanol from the methanol synthesis feed;
(i) cooling the product comprising methanol by a net heat removal Q 6 to remove a crude methanol stream and provide a recycle gas stream comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen;
j) compressing the recycle gas stream via a recycle compressor;
(k) purging via a purge gas system, wherein purging may be effected by a net heat input or removal Q 7 ; and
(l) purifying the methanol in the crude methanol product by removing light ends, heavy byproducts, water, or a combination thereof from the crude methanol stream, wherein removing the light ends, the heavy byproducts, the water, or the combination thereof requires a net heat input or removal Q 8 ;
wherein the method consumes greater than or equal to 20 MW of electricity per day,
wherein an amount of CO 2 produced per ton of methanol is less than 0.3 tons CO 2 per ton of methanol, and wherein a net specific energy consumption is less than 34 GJ/ton methanol.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein a carbon efficiency is greater than or equal to 82%.

17. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the heat obtained from cooling the reformer product via heat removal Q 2 , Q 3 , and Q 4 is used to preheat the feed by providing a first portion of the heat input

Assignees

• Sabic Global Technologies Bv

Inventors

• Schroer Joseph William
• Stevenson Scott
• Ward Andrew Mark
• Abbott Tim
• Lawson Kenneth Francis
• Huckman Michael Edward
• Zhao Zhun
• Oprins Arno

Classifications

• H02J15/50

  using stored hydrogen · CPC title

• H02J15/20

  using storage of pneumatic energy, e.g. compressed air energy storage [CAES] · CPC title

• B01J2219/0871

  Heating or cooling of the reactor · CPC title

• B01J2219/00761

  Details of the reactor · CPC title

• B01J2219/00132

  using electric heating or cooling elements · CPC title