Progress toward the Hercules coke-to-methanol plant

Conference · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1983 · Proc., Intersoc. Energy Convers. Eng. Conf.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5645992

Galloway, T R; Chiramoute, J; Pack, G E; Patterson, J

A progress report is given on the Hercules coke-to-methanol plant. The plant gasifies petroleum coke in a fluidized bed to produce syngas for the methanol plant already on site and fuel gas for a combined cycle. The plant will produce 24,000 gallons of chemical grade methanol per day and will cogenerate electricity at about 10 MWe. The coke that is used as the raw feed stock is from a local refinery's fluid coker unit and is sized at minus 6 mm (0.25 inches) and has a heating value of 31 MJ/kg (14,700 Btu/lb). The coke, which is 90% carbon, is relatively unreactive, but can be economically gasified with a catalyst using TOSCO's coke gasification process at 650-850/sup 0/ C (1200-1500/sup 0/ F). This process is unique in that a catalyst reduces the gasification temperature which in turn lowers the oxygen requirements. This lower temperature prevents a slagging ash problem, so typical in other gasification processes. The process also uses less steam than other non-catalytic fluid-bed gasification processes. The capital cost of the plant is 24.2 million dollars and the operating cost is 5.24 million dollars per year. Low interest (8.8%) State of California loans for methanol production are used as well as the alcohol tax credit. The energy cost was found to be around $5/MMBtu for a 20 cent/gal tax credit and a coke feed at $20/ton.

• Research Organization: Mittelhauser Corp., Berkeley, CA
• OSTI ID: 5645992
• Report Number(s): CONF-830812-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Proc., Intersoc. Energy Convers. Eng. Conf.; (United States) Journal Volume: 2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020500 -- Petroleum-- Products & By-Products
090221* -- Alcohol Fuels-- Chemical Synthesis-- (1976-1989)
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
CARBON
CATALYSTS
CHEMICAL FEEDSTOCKS
COAL GASIFICATION
COGENERATION
COKE
COST
DEUS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FLUIDIZED BED
FLUIDS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GASIFICATION
HEATING
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INTERMEDIATE BTU GAS
METHANOL PLANTS
NONMETALS
OXYGEN
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
POWER GENERATION
PRODUCTION
SLAGS
STEAM
STEAM GENERATION
SYNTHESIS GAS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES