Syngas Preparation

First gas has to be cleaned from particles in order to prevent fouling and blocking of the reformer. Currently high temperature particle filtration is limited to a temperature of about 600C so the gas has to be cooled prior to particle removal. The removed heat is used to generate saturated steam of 25 bar pressure. For the filter a system with ceramic or sintered metal candles seems to be appropriate. The filter candles have to be cleaned regularly and for this purpose part of the purge gas from the synthesis section is used after heating. Energy loss by the combustible components in this purge gas like hydrogen and methane, can be prevented this way. The removal efficiency of the high temperature candle filter is about 99.5% for all solid components. First the hydrocarbons are treated with steam and oxygen to produce CO and H2 . This steam reformer mainly converts methane, but converts higher hydrocarbons and some of the carbon as well. CH4 + H2 O CO + 3H2 In order to sustain this endothermic reaction part of the gas is oxidised. The value used has been calculated assuming reasonable dimensions typical for the capacity of the gasifier and heat and transfer to the environment with temperature difference of approx. 50C. In the model it is assumed that about 25% of the methane is inert and remains in the treated gas as well as 28% of the carbon. Heat loss to the environment is approx. 0.4%. For the present-day case a thermal reformer at 1200C has been selected. At that temperature most of the methane and heavier hydrocarbons will be converted. The second major operation is the partial conversion of CO to hydrogen in the high temperature shift reactor.

CO + H2O CO2+ H2 Before entering the shift reactor the gas has be cooled to the optimum inlet temperature of about 350C and the water to CO ratio has to be adjusted to 2.0 with injection of saturated steam of 25 bar. Cooling takes place in a second high temperature cooler immediately downstream of the reformer where saturated steam of 25 bar is generated. After that a steam superheater reduces the temperature to the final value. Saturated steam from both high temperature coolers and from coolers elsewhere in the system is superheated to 400C. The main emphasis of the shift reactor is to convert so much CO to hydrogen that the resulting ratio of CO to hydrogen in the syngas at the inlet of the synthesis section (i.e. make up compressor) has the correct value. More precisely: (H2 CO2)/(CO + CO2) = 2.0

Therefore part of the syngas can bypass the shift reactor, the remainder is mixed with saturated steam and introduced in the reactor. The reactor is modeled as a Gibbs free energy reactor with modest heat loss of 0.4%. Because of the reaction the temperature increases to 467C. The gas is cooled to 272C in the shift gas cooler again to generate saturated steam of 25 bar. After combination with the bypass flow the gas is cooled to 152C and the heat is used to preheat the feedwater to boiling temperature in an economizer. There is still some heat left in the gas which is used in the wood drying system. The last cooler in this section is actually a desaturator. The gas is cooled to 35C and water condenses and is removed from the system.

Methanol
The syngas is compressed to 67 bar and used as make up in the synthesis cycle. Hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide react to form methanol. CO2 + 3H2 CH3OH + H2O CO + 2H2 CH3OH These reactions are both exothermic and therefore the methanol reactor can generate saturated steam of 25 bar. At the exit of the reactor the reactions are close to equilibrium which means that there is still unconverted CO and H2 present. These are recycled back to the reactor after pressurization. A small amount of gas is purged from the loop in order to control the buildup of inert gases. The steam pressure in the plant was selected because of reasonable temperature difference between the highest temperature in the methanol reactor and the cooling medium (steam). Purge gas from two locations is used as cleaning gas for the HT particle filter. Energy from the condenser of the refining column in the purification section of raw methanol is used in the wood drying section. Grade AA methanol is produced.

The difference between in and out is very small, as can be expected. The water in the In column is the make up water for the steam system since superheated steam added to the gasifier and reformer, and saturated steam added to the HT-Shift are lost. The ash is actually a mix of bedmaterial (sand), ash and carbon. The carbon flow is 546.4 kg/hour and the content in the solid waste is therefore 11.2% (mass). This is the same for both cases since no modifications are made to the gasifier process. Most of the waste water is produced in the desaturator upstream of the acid gas removal. This flow is 27,465 kg/hour for the present-day case or 80% of the total.