To produce methanol from natural gas. The process is based on Casale highly efficient equipment including: The Casale plate cooled technology for the methanol converter.
The natural gas (1) is first desulfurized before entering a primary reformer (2), where it is reformed, reacting with steam to generate synthesis gas, i.e., hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The reformed gas is cooled (3) by generating highpressure (HP) steam, which provides heat for the methanol distillation columns (8). The cooled gas enters the synthesis gas compressor (4), where it is compressed to synthesis pressure.
The compressed syngas reaches the synthesis loop where it is converted to methanol in the Casale plate-cooled converter (5), characterized by the highest conversion per pass and mechanical robustness. The heat of reaction is used to generate directly medium-pressure steam. The gas is cooled (6), and raw methanol (7) is condensed and separated, while the unreacted syngas is circulated back to the converter.
The raw methanol (7) is sent to the distillation section (8), comprising two or three columns, where byproducts and contained water are separated out to obtain the desired purity for the methanol product (9). The inerts contained in the synthesis gas are purged from the loop (10) and recycled as fuel to the primary reformer (2).
Licensor: Methanol Casale SA, Switzerland
