Application of the Kellogg reforming exchanger system to large scale methanol plants

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:442783

Joshi, G; Schneider, III, R V ^[1]

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1. M.W. Kellogg Co., Houston, TX (United States)

In a majority of existing methanol production facilities, synthesis gas is furnished typically by a tubular fired steam reformer which uses natural gas as a feedstock. When one considers all synthesis gas produced from both ammonia and methanol plants, well over 80% is produced in a conventional reforming furnace. Steam reforming in a conventional sense, however, requires a considerable investment in both capital equipment and on-going maintenance and further, the use of such a unit operation will require heat recovery in the form of steam which forces the hand of the designer with respect to machinery driver selection. The authors have investigated alternatives to the coinventional approach with a view towards developing a process for methanol production that would be hopefully less expensive to construct, easier to operate and more reliable over the course of long term operation. In this paper, the authors present an alternative methanol plant process based on Kellogg`s proprietary reforming exchanger system (KRES). The flowsheet presented herein is for a 1500 MTPD facility that will produce US Federal Grade AA + methanol and will be compared on an economic basis to a conventional plant with respect to investment requirements and expected energy efficiency.

• OSTI ID: 442783
• Report Number(s): CONF-951266--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
AUTOTHERMAL REFORMER PROCESSES
CHEMICAL REACTORS
COST ESTIMATION
DESIGN
ECONOMICS
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
FLOWSHEETS
METHANOL PLANTS
PRODUCTION
STEAM REFORMER PROCESSES
SYNTHESIS GAS