Methanol Plant 500

EIEE
& Partners GmbH
Facility Inspection Report

Methanol Plant
International Industrial Process Plants &

Interim Management Services
Brügglistrasse 7a
8852 Altendorf, Switzerland
T +41 43 537 5510
M +41 79 689 7433
E sohaila.setayesh@eiee-‐partners.com
I www.eiee-‐partners.com
Confidential
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EIEE & Partners GmbH
Methanol Plant

Executive Summary
Ø This low-‐pressure methanol synthesis unit started up in 1988 with a capacity of 500
mt/day. The unit is operated at about 65 bar with a recycle gas to makeup gas ratio
of 5.0 – 5.5. Engineering and major equipment exist to increase the methanol
synthesis capacity to 750 mt/day.
Ø Foster-‐Wheeler terreace wall tubular Steam-‐Methane Reforming (SMR) Unit started

up in 1983.

Ø Davy SMR Unit started up in 1989.

Ø Auto-‐thermal reforming (ATR) unit started up in 2009.

Ø CO2 recovery unit started up in 1997 with 90 mt/day capacity. It is for recycle back to
the reformer feed for producing stoichiometric syngas.

Ø The methanol distillation unit was converted in 1991 to a high thermal-‐efficiency,
three-‐column system capable of distilling 800 mt/day of methanol. It uses only 1.1
mt of steam per mt of methanol distilled.

Ø It includes a 150 mt/day (oxygen) air separation unit designed by Air Products.

Ø Documentation is excellent and mostly electronic. Process flow diagrams with mass
flow balances are immediately available on request.

Brügglistrasse 7a
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Ø Detailed Process Descriptions

This low-‐pressure methanol synthesis unit started up in 1988 with a capacity of 500 mt/day.
The unit design provides the maximum thermal efficiency and steam production using three
single-‐bed reactors in series. There are waste-‐heat boilers located in between each reactor
for generating 28 bar steam. The unit is operated at about 65 bar with a recycle gas to
makeup gas ratio of 5.0 – 5.5. Engineering and major equipment exist to increase methanol
synthesis capacity to 750 mt/day.
3rd Party
CO2 (U-100 / H-101)

Foster Wheeler
Capacity : 205 ton. / day Annual Production: 347 days
( 72,775 tons/yr) ( "On Stream" Performance: 95%)
Nat. Gas
CO2 (U-1000 / H-1101)

Davy Mckee
3rd Party Capacity : 285 ton. / day
( 99,400 tons/yr) Methanol
Thermal Reformer Methanol Synthesis Distillation Unit 750 tons/day
Capacity : 260 tons/day Capacity 730 tons/day Capacity 730 tons/day (260.000 tons/yr)
O2 99,99 % vol. ( 86,975 tons/yr)
Air Separation Unit Synthesis Gas

Capacity160 ton./day O2 Compressors tons/yr
(55,520 tons/yr O2) Capacity 520 tons/day 180,440
t
Methanol Facility Block Flow Diagram
There are three reformer units for providing the syngas feed to the methanol synthesis unit.
The first is a Foster-‐Wheeler steam-‐methane reforming (SMR) unit started up in 1983
capable of producing enough syngas for 200 mt/day of methanol production. The second is
a Davy SMR unit started up in 1989 capable of producing enough syngas for 300 mt/day of
methanol production. The third and newest unit is an auto-‐thermal reforming (ATR) unit
started up in 2009 with the capacity of producing enough syngas for 250 mt/day of methanol
production.

There is a CO2 recovery unit, which started up in 1997 with 90 mt/day for recycle back to the
reformer feed for producing stoichiometric syngas.

The low-‐pressure methanol synthesis unit started up in 1988 with a capacity of 500 mt/day.
The unit operates with three single-‐bed reactors in series. There are waste-‐heat boilers
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located in between each reactor for generating 28 bar steam. The unit is operated at about
65 bar with a recycle gas to makeup gas ratio of 5.0 – 5.5.

The methanol distillation unit was converted in 1991 to a high thermal-‐efficiency, three-‐
column system capable of distilling 800 mt/day of methanol. It uses only 1.1 mt of steam
per mt of methanol distilled.

There is a 150 mt/day (oxygen) air separation unit designed by Air Products supplying
oxygen to the ATR unit.

Syngas Unit (Steam-‐Methane Natural Gas Reforming) #100
The reformer is rated for 112 MMBTU/hr. It utilizes three reciprocating syngas compressors
and a mono-‐ethanol amine (MEA) unit for CO2 removal unit. The CO2 is removed from the
raw syngas and is recycled back to the frontend of the reformer in order to make
stoichiometric syngas for the downstream methanol synthesis unit. There is a 200 hp Demag
reciprocation compressor for natural gas compression in this unit.

The reformer uses a Foster-‐Wheeler
terrace-‐wall tubular reformer operating at
about 900oC outlet temperature and 20
bar. It has 56 catalyst tubes with 25-‐35
niobium alloy in the radiant section. The
catalyst tubes have been replaced three
times over the life of the reformer and
there are 21 spare sets of new tubes
available with the plant. A hydro-‐
desulfurization unit is included on the
front end of this reforming train to
remove trace amounts of sulfur in the
natural gas.
Unit #100 SMR
The process flow diagrams have mass balance tables which show a reformer feed rate of
4,100 kg/hr natural gas, 715 kg/hr of steam, and 2,400 kg/hr of CO2. These feed streams are
combined with about 4,500 kg/hr of other purge and recycle streams. The syngas
production is listed as 11,462 kg/hr with the following composition (mole %); 69% hydrogen,
18% CO, 9.5% CO2, 2.7% methane, and the remainder as nitrogen and water.
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Unit #100 SMR Process Flow Diagram
The incoming natural gas is routed through a separate hydrogenation reactor and
desulfurization reactor in series. Steam, CO2, and recycle/purge gases are then combined
with the natural gas prior to feeding the steam-‐methane reformer. The reformer uses two
forced draft blowers and two induced draft blowers. The reformed syngas is then routed to
the waste heat boilers.

The syngas pressure and temperature after heat recovery and final refrigerant cooling is
about 17.5 bar and 8oC. Steam generated in the raw gas waste-‐heat boiler and the reformer
is at about 27 bar and is superheated in the reformer´s convection section to about 400oC.
There is a spare waste-‐heat boiler available with the plant. A tubular air preheater lowers
the convection section exit flue gas temperature to about 130oC, increasing the overall
reformer thermal efficiency.

The rest of the syngas heat recovery train utilizes an economizer, reboilers for the methanol
distillation section, make-‐up boiler feed-‐water pre-‐heater, and final syngas cooling
exchangers.


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Syngas Unit (Steam Methane Natural Gas Reforming) #1000

This second steam-‐methane reforming unit was started up at the end of 1989, running in
parallel to the Syngas Unit #100 mentioned earlier. It has a Davy down-‐fired steam-‐methane
reformer equipped with 88 catalyst tubes laid out in four rows of 22 catalyst tubes. The 25-‐
35 niobium alloy tubes run at 890oC and 20 bar. The catalyst tubes have been changed twice
over the life of the reformer and there are 25 spare sets of new tubes available with the
plant. There are four natural gas compressors in this unit, one of which is a 900 hp Demag
reciprocating unit.

This Davy reformer has a high radiant
efficiency due to the high inlet
temperature of 550 – 590oC to the radiant
section and the use of high combustion air
preheat at 500 – 550oC. A hydro-‐
desulfurization unit is included on the
front end of this reforming train to
remove trace amounts of sulfur in the
natural gas.
Steam is generated in the reformer outlet
raw gas waste-‐heat boiler at about 64 bar.
This steam is super-‐heated in the reformer
convection section. The rest of the syngas
heat recovery train utilizes an economizer,
reboilers for the methanol distillation
Unit #1000 SMR
section, make-‐up boiler feed-‐water pre-
heater, and final syngas cooling
exchangers.

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Unit #1000 SMR Process Flow Diagram
The incoming natural gas is first compressed, and then routed through a hydro-‐
desulfurization reactor. Steam, CO2, and recycle/purge gases are then combined with the
natural gas prior to feeding the steam-‐methane reformer. The reformed syngas is then
routed to the waste heat boilers.

about 18 bar and 10oC. Steam generated in the raw gas waste-‐heat boiler and the reformer
is at about 64 bar and is superheated in the reformer´s convection section.

The process flow diagrams have mass balance tables which show a reformer feed rate of
7,272 kg/hr natural gas, 1,269 kg/hr of steam, and 725 kg/hr of CO2. These feed streams
are combined with about 11,000 kg/hr of other purge and recycle streams. The syngas
production is listed as 20,000 kg/hr with the following composition (mole %); 67% hydrogen,
14.5% CO, 7.4% CO2, 3.1% methane, and the remainder as nitrogen and water.
Syngas Unit (Auto-‐Thermal Reforming) #10,000

This auto-‐thermal reforming (ATR) unit started up in 2009. This unit has the hydro-‐
desulfurization section for removing trace amounts of sulfur in the natural gas feed. The
natural gas is then mixed with hydrogen and steam at 550oC before combining with oxygen
in the ATR.

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Steam is produced on a waste-‐heat boiler

at 64 bar. This is followed by a steam
superheater (480oC), an economizer,
reboilers for the methanol distillation
section, make-‐up boiler feed-‐water pre-‐
heater, and final syngas cooling
exchangers.
Waste Heat Boiler
Oxygen for the ATR unit is provided by an

Air Products-‐designed, 150 mt/day
(oxygen) air separation unit (ASU). The
unit uses molecular sieve absorbers for
trace water and CO2 removal and two-‐
column distillation to produce 99.5% pure
oxygen at 6 bar. Front-‐end air
compression is provided by a Demag four-‐
stage centrifugal compressor driven by a
3500 hp Westinghouse motor. Final pure

oxygen compression is provided by a
three-‐stage Sulzer reciprocating
compressor. This oxygen plant also
produces about 390 mt/day of pure
nitrogen at just above atmospheric
pressure.
Unit #10,000 ATR
Confidential
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Unit #10,000 ATR Process Flow Diagram
The incoming natural gas is first routed through two hydro-‐desulfurization reactors. Steam,
CO2, and recycle/purge gases are then combined with the natural gas prior to feeding the
auto-‐thermal reformer. The reformed syngas is then routed to the waste heat boilers.

about 17 bar and 9oC. Steam generated in the raw gas waste-‐heat boiler and the reformer is
at about 64 bar and is superheated in the reformer´s convection section to about 480oC.

The syngas production for the ATR unit is listed as 16,000 kg/hr with the following
composition (mole %); 74% hydrogen, 16% CO, 6.7% CO2, 2.9% methane, and the remainder
as nitrogen and water.


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CO2 Recovery Unit

The syngas production area of this facility also includes a CO2 recovery unit which recover
CO2 from the reformer flue gas. The unit receives and uses flue gas from reformer #100, but
the ducting connections exist to switch over to operation on flue gas from the larger
reformer #1000. This arrangement is based on the fact that reformer #100 has a more CO2-‐
rich flue gas because reformer #1000 is typically fired with a hydrogen-‐rich purge gas.

The CO2 recovery unit started up in 1997 with 90 mt/day capacity. It uses Econamine 30 –
35 wt.% MEA

CO2 Unit #1
The CO2 from this unit is compressed and recycled back to either of the two steam-‐methane
reformers to aid in the production of stoichiometric syngas. This effectively increases the CO
+ CO2 throughput capacity of the make-‐up syngas compressors.

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Methanol Synthesis Unit

The low-‐pressure methanol synthesis unit started up in 1988 with a capacity of 500 mt/day.
It is fed with 40,550 kg/hr of syngas with the following composition (mole %); 70% hydrogen,
18% CO, 8.8% CO2, 2.5% methane, and the remainder as nitrogen and water.
Methanol Synthesis Unit Process Flow Diagram
Syngas is compressed to about 65 bar using four syngas compressors before entering the
three methanol converters (in series). Steam at 28 bar pressure is generated from the highly
exothermic reaction in four waste heat boilers. The methanol stream is then condensed
before entering the separator vessel. The overheads from the separator go to the purge gas
reactor and methanol recovery column for recovery of the methanol carried overhead. The
purge gas going overhead in the methanol recovery column is generally recycled back to the
reformers. The crude methanol from the bottom of the separator is sent to the methanol
distillation unit.
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The unit design provides the maximum thermal efficiency and steam production using three
single-‐bed reactors in series. Each reactor holds 17 cubic meters of Johnson Matthey
methanol synthesis catalyst. There are waste-‐heat boilers located in between each reactor
for generating 28 bar steam. The unit is operated at about 65 bar with a recycle gas to
makeup gas ratio of 5.0 – 5.5. The reactor design pressure is 74 bar, but most of the other
equipment in the synthesis loop are designed for 90 bar or more pressure.
This unit was redesigned in 2003 when the auto-‐thermal reformer was added, and is now
engineered for the production capacity of 750 mt/day of methanol. The redesign included
the purchase of major new equipment such as a centrifugal recirculation compressor driven
by a steam-‐condensing turbine.
It was planned to convert all three

reactors from simple axial down-‐flow to
radial cross-‐flow, but only the first reactor
has been converted at this time. With this
new flow design, the reactors are capable
of 800 mt/day of methanol production. A
second horizontal main methanol
condenser was purchased and installed in
parallel with the existing main condenser.
Methanol Reactors
This facility also uses an older Casale high-‐pressure converter which contains about six cubic
meters of catalyst. The original design pressure for this converter was 350 bar and it is left
over from the original high-‐pressure synthesis plant which was on this location in the early
1980s. The converter was added to the process in 2000 to increase the overall methanol
synthesis carbon conversion efficiency by several percentage points, which also increased
the methanol production output.
Make-‐up gas and recycle gas compression stage make-‐up gas cylinders and one
for the unit is provided with three Dresser recycle gas re-‐compression cylinder. The
Rand reciprocating compressors in two 1800 hp machines are electric-‐motor
parallel. Each machine has three single-‐ driven and the larger 2500 hp machine is
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driven with a steam-‐condensing turbine

through a gear-‐reducer. There is a fourth,
new compressor which has yet to be
installed.
Compressor House

The crude methanol leaves the synthesis unit at a rate of 37,000 kg/hr. The composition is
about 75% methanol, 24% water, and some dissolved gases.

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Methanol Distillation Unit

The methanol distillation unit was converted in 1991 to a high thermal-‐efficiency, three-‐
column system capable of distilling 800 mt/day of methanol. It was previously a two-‐column
system. The reboiler heat consumption for this unit is only 1.1 mt of steam per metric ton of
methanol. One of the older columns, with reboiler and condenser, still exists and can be
easily used to increase capacity again.

Methanol Distillation Process Flow Diagram
Crude methanol enters the distillation unit at a rate of 37,000 kg/hr. The composition is
about 75% methanol, 24% water, and some dissolved gases. The crude methanol specifically
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enters the process at tray #22 in the 107-‐tray ether column. The overheads from this
column are condensed and used for reflux. The purge gas leaving the column overheads is
generally sent back to the reformer feed stream.

The bottoms from the ether column are pumped to tray #51 of the 60-‐tray intermediate
column. The overheads from this column are condensed and used for reflux. The purge gas
leaving the column overheads is generally sent back to the reformer feed stream.
The bottoms from the intermediate column are pumped to tray #53 of the 75-‐tray rectifying
column. The overheads from this column are the pure methanol stream which is condensed
and used for reflux and also pumped out to the methanol storage tank. The purge gas
leaving the column overheads is generally sent back to the reformer feed stream.
A side-‐stream from tray #65 of the

rectifying column flows to the extraction
column for removal of the higher alcohols.
The extraction column uses demineralized
water flowing counter-‐current to the
rising higher alcohol vapors. Any
remaining methanol absorbs into the
water and is sent back to tray #73 of the
rectifying column.

The final pure methanol product leaves at
a rate of 31,410 kg/hr. The purity is
99.959% methanol with 0.028% water and
0.013% ethanol.
Methanol Distillation Unit

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Air Separation Unit

Oxygen for the ATR unit is provided by an
Air Products-‐designed, 150 mt/day
(oxygen) air separation unit (ASU). The
unit uses molecular sieve absorbers for
trace water and CO2 removal and two-‐
column distillation to produce 99.5% pure
oxygen at 6 bar. Front-‐end air
compression is provided by a Demag four-‐
stage centrifugal compressor driven by a
3500 hp Westinghouse motor. Final pure
oxygen compression is provided by a
three-‐stage Sulzer reciprocating
compressor. This oxygen plant also
produces about 390 mt/day of pure
nitrogen at just above atmospheric
Air Separation Unit
pressure.
Utilities:
Cooling Tower: The facility is also equipped with two cooling towers with associated cooling
water circulating pumps. One pump is rated for 2,300 m3/hr and the other for 3,200 m3/hr.
The system is capable of cooling the water from 40oC down to 32oC.


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Equipment List

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Methanol Plant 500

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EIEE

& Partners GmbH

Facility Inspection Report

International Industrial Process Plants &

EIEE & Partners GmbH

Ø Foster-­‐Wheeler terreace wall tubular Steam-­‐Methane Reforming (SMR) Unit started

International Industrial Process Plants &

EIEE & Partners GmbH

Ø Detailed Process Descriptions

CO2 (U-100 / H-101)

CO2 (U-1000 / H-1101)

Air Separation Unit Synthesis Gas

Methanol Facility Block Flow Diagram

EIEE & Partners GmbH

EIEE & Partners GmbH

Unit #100 SMR Process Flow Diagram

International Industrial Process Plants &

EIEE & Partners GmbH

Syngas Unit (Steam Methane Natural Gas Reforming) #1000

International Industrial Process Plants &

EIEE & Partners GmbH

Unit #1000 SMR Process Flow Diagram

Syngas Unit (Auto-­‐Thermal Reforming) #10,000

International Industrial Process Plants &

Steam is produced on a waste-­‐heat boiler

Waste Heat Boiler

Oxygen for the ATR unit is provided by an

Unit #10,000 ATR

EIEE & Partners GmbH

Unit #10,000 ATR Process Flow Diagram

International Industrial Process Plants &

EIEE & Partners GmbH

CO2 Recovery Unit

EIEE & Partners GmbH

Methanol Synthesis Unit

Methanol Synthesis Unit Process Flow Diagram

EIEE & Partners GmbH

It was planned to convert all three

EIEE & Partners GmbH

driven with a steam-­‐condensing turbine

International Industrial Process Plants &

EIEE & Partners GmbH

Methanol Distillation Unit

EIEE & Partners GmbH

A side-­‐stream from tray #65 of the

Methanol Distillation Unit

International Industrial Process Plants &

EIEE & Partners GmbH

Air Separation Unit

International Industrial Process Plants &

EIEE & Partners GmbH

International Industrial Process Plants &

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