Commissioning and operation of BHP`s LCM plant

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

OSTI ID:442787

Rees, I ^[1]

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1. BHP Petroleum, Melbourne (Australia)

BHP Petroleum (BHPP) has now operated the 164 tonne per day Methanol Research Plant (MRP) located on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia for over one year. This plant was commissioned in 1994 making first methanol on 17th October and has operated since then, selling product by pipeline to two local customers, ICI Adhesives and Borden Australia. The plant is based on the Leading Concept Methanol technology (LCM) licensed from ICI Katalco. Since 1985 BHPP has been involved in the development of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) technology for the production of oil and gas offshore. In order to utilize the gas associated with oil on remote offshore oil production facilities the combination of gas conversion to methanol and existing FPSO technology is being investigated. The LCM technology being commercialized at the MRP is part of the strategy to demonstrate and develop LCM technology such that it could be located on the deck of a floating vessel in a remote offshore environment. The MRP has been built primarily for Research and Development and there has been a detailed R and D program in place during the design, construction, commissioning and first year of operation. That program has yielded significant information concerning the novel equipment items used in the technology and the process itself.

• OSTI ID: 442787
• Report Number(s): CONF-951266--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
AUSTRALIA
DISTILLATION
METHANOL PLANTS
OFFSHORE OPERATIONS
PARTIAL OXIDATION PROCESSES
PERFORMANCE
START-UP
STEAM REFORMER PROCESSES