Optimize for Profit Extracting Additional Value from your Methanol Plant Presentation to IMPCA Asia Methanol Conference 3 November 2016

Transcription

1 Optimize for Profit Extracting Additional Value from your Methanol Plant Presentation to IMPCA Asia Methanol Conference 3 November

2 About Jembec Consulting Established 2009 Consults to methanol industry and technology & catalyst providers Provides independent advice Previous projects include Debottlenecking studies Methanol catalyst kinetic modelling Novel steam reformer development

3 Our Niche New Build Expansion Revamp Optimisation

4 Today s Market Environment Margin

5 Much of the MeOH fleet is old Built in the 1980 s to earlier designs High specific energy consumption Use catalyst inefficiently However these old plants still operate as they are economic

6 Technology has moved on Catalysts have improved Increased activity Longer life Reduced by product make Lower pressure drop Knowledge of kinetics has improved Informs better designs, but also understanding of operation of existing plants

7 How can we get the best out of these older plants? Retrofit new technology Deploy new catalysts Optimise operating conditions Optimise operating regime over the catalyst life

8 Retrofits Updating with the latest technology Potentially a very expensive option Marginal gain in capacity available Significant disruption to operation Not likely to be economic

9 Advanced Reformer Catalyst Johnson Matthey Catacel Improved radial and wall heat transfer Lower pressure drop Increased activity Photo courtesy of Johnson Matthey PLC

10 Catacel Debottlenecking Study Steam reformer based plant Potential benefits included 12 % increase in syngas production Lower process steam consumption & improved energy efficiency Lower methane slip Lower tube wall temperatures The best way to take advantage of this advance depends on plant equipment constraints

11 Methanol Synthesis Catalysts Not all created equal They vary in activity, life and by product make Some give better performance than others in particular reactor types Some are more cost effective than others

12 Making the best methanol catalyst choice Match the catalyst to the reactor technology Choose process conditions to achieve the best performance Optimise the process conditions to generate the most methanol possible during the catalyst life

13 Process Optimisation Objective function: Maximise profit Profit = Methanol Sales Variable Costs Fixed Costs Typically optimising over the life of the methanol synthesis catalyst.

14 Process Optimisation Inputs: Gas price Catalyst costs Catalyst life Turnaround times & schedules Estimates of future methanol price Rate of return on capital Constraints: Gas availability / contract obligations Equipment capacity Each plant requires a custom solution

15 Methanol Formation Hydrogen, CO and CO 2 react on the catalytic sites to form methanol. The reaction rate has a complex relationship with the amount of CO 2. Catalytic Synthesis of Methanol from CO/H, IV. The Effects of Carbon Dioxide K. KLIER, V. CHATIKAVANIJ, R. G. HERMAN, AND G. W. SIMMONS JOURNAL OF CATALYSIS 74, (1982)

16 Partial Pressure Diffusion and Reaction in Pellets Fast H 2 diffusion CO and CO 2 slower and consumed Methanol diffuses out of the pellet Powder Performance Pellet Performance H 2 Partial Pressure CO 2 Partial Pressure Approaching Equilibrium CO Partial Pressure MeOH Partial Pressure Pellet Centre Pellet Radius Surface

17 Large Difference in Catalyst activity Catalyst Deactivation Poisoning and Sintering

18 Typical Quench / Arc Converter Loop High Deactivation Low Deactivation MUG MeOH

19 Activity Profile

20 Conclusions With a difficult environment small changes can deliver an outsize improvement in profitability Take advantage of new catalyst improvements at scheduled turn arounds to improve performance Think over the life time of the catalysts