Commercial-Scale Demonstration of the Liquid Phase Methanol (LPMEOHTM) Process

Executive Summary The Clean Coal Technology (CCT) Program is a government and industry co-funded effort to demonstrate a new generation of innovative coal-utilization processes in a series of " showcase " facilities built across the country. These projects are carried out on a sufficiently large scale to prove commercial worthiness and generate data for design, construction, operation, and technical/economic evaluation of full-scale commercial applications. The goal of the CCT Program is to furnish the U.S. energy marketplace with a number of advanced, more efficient, and environmentally responsible coal-based technologies that can overcome the economic and environmental impediments that limit the full utilization of coal. To achieve this goal, beginning in 1985, a multiphased effort consisting of five separate solicitations was administered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Projects selected through these solicitations have demonstrated technology options with the potential to meet the needs of energy markets while satisfying relevant environmental requirements. Phase Methanol (LPMEOH™) Process. The LPMEOH™ Process is designed to convert synthesis gas derived from the gasification of coal into methanol for use as a chemical intermediate or as a low-sulfur dioxide and low-nitrogen oxides emitting alternative fuel. Synthesis gas, frequently referred to as syngas, is basically a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide; but, depending upon how it is produced , it may contain other gases, such as carbon dioxide. Since gasifiers can handle a wide range of coal types and produce a variety of syngas compositions, virtually any coal can be gasified to produce syngas as feedstock for the LPMEOH™ Process. The LPMEOH™ Process differs from traditional methanol processes in that it uses a slurry bubble column reactor (SBCR) instead of the usual fixed-bed reactor. In the SBCR, powdered catalyst is suspended in an inert oil rather than catalyst pellets being loaded into beds or tubes, as is the case in a gas-phase, fixed-bed reactor. The SBCR has several advantages over a fixed-bed reactor. First, it has excellent temperature control, which is critical because the methanol production reactions are highly exo-thermic. Second, catalyst can be added to and removed from the reactor during operation, which permits high unit availability, maintenance of constant catalyst activity, and achievement of optimum catalyst activity level for a given set of operating conditions. In addition, higher syngas conversion levels are possible, and a wide range of gas compositions can be fed to the reactor.