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A Simulation and Thermodynamic Improvement of Methanol Production Process with Economic Analysis: Natural Gas Vapor Reforming and Utilization of Carbon Capture

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Abstract

Power plant gases are a source of carbon dioxide emissions that can be converted by thermo-chemical as an opportunity to produce chemical products such as methanol. In this study, the thermodynamic improvement of the methanol production process through natural gas vapor reforming and utilization of recycled carbon dioxide as a secondary source of carbon has been done along with economic and environmental analyzes. Sensitivity analysis showed that the optimal flow rate of carbon dioxide for injection into the methanol synthesis reactor should be 580 kmol/h. So that the stoichiometric number of the synthesized gas is controlled in an appropriate amount of 2, and the carbon efficiency process reaches 85%. Energy analysis was performed for the process, and it was found that the overall energy efficiency is 77.26%, which has a significant advantage compared to previous works. The use of an integrated network of heat exchangers has led to the recovery of 440.89 gigajoules per hour of energy, which has a great impact on improving the thermodynamics and reducing the intensity of process pollution. Based on the environmental analysis, the use of flue gas flow as a heat source for heating in reboilers of methanol separation towers has caused the global heating potential parameter for the pro\({\text{k}}^{'}\)posed process is 0.265\(\frac{{{\text{k}}{{{\text{g}}}_{{{\text{C}}{{{\text{O}}}_{{2,{\text{eq}}}}}}}}}}{{{\text{k}}{{{\text{g}}}_{{{\text{MeOH}}}}}}}\). Also, the results of the exergy evaluation indicated that the presented process, with an overall exergy efficiency of 77.32%, has a good position among the other technologies. According to the study, the total degraded exergy is 238468.21 kW, which is the equipment and process parts, burner reformer and synthesis gas production sector with the share of 30 and 47%, respectively, have the highest exergy destruction. An economical estimate was made for the proposed project, and it was showed that the annual profit of the project is 4630926/033 $, the total investment cost is 96820215/07$, the annual revenue is 60673626/03$, and the minimum selling price of the product as a competitive parameter is 0/099\(\frac{{{\text{USD}}}}{{{\text{k}}{{{\text{g}}}_{{{\text{Methanol}}}}}}}\).

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Zhou, M. A Simulation and Thermodynamic Improvement of Methanol Production Process with Economic Analysis: Natural Gas Vapor Reforming and Utilization of Carbon Capture. Theor Found Chem Eng 57, 411–433 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0040579523030211

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