What is a good process for producing olefins from methanol?
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This post was last edited by liaifeng on 2018-9-6 19:17. What is the best process for producing olefins from methanol? A comparative analysis is conducted from aspects such as investment analysis, operating costs, and consumption.
At present, the methanol-to-olefins process used in China is mainly based on the DMTO technology; after all, this technology offers various advantages in China, and many plants using it are already in operation with satisfactory performance. For the methanol to olefins section alone, the investment is around over 12 billion, including the associated utility facilities. If coal-to-methanol production in the front area is also to be established, it will be even more. Other technologies such as SMTO, UOP-MTO, and SHMTO are less widely adopted in China, and they are relatively proprietary; not much is known about them. It is said that UOP’s technology is good, but foreign technologies are inconvenient in many aspects.
Both DMTO and UOP’s MTO are good
The SMTO technology developed by the Shanghai Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology, which is part of Sinopec, is highly advanced and worth considering.
Of course it has been transferred externally; feel free to reach out if you have any requests
It is said that during the trial production at UOP’s Nanjing plant, the methanol consumption-to-output ratio was 2.54 tons of methanol per ton of olefins produced; once full-scale operation began, this ratio stabilized at 2.6 tons of methanol per ton of olefins. I wonder what the methanol consumption-to-output ratio is for the technology developed by the Shanghai Petrochemical Research Institute? Could you provide an accurate figure (one for large-scale production, not the figure for pilot production)? Thank you
Lenovo’s DMTO for chemical use is pretty good
Currently, there are three patented technologies for the industrial production of MTO: UOP, DMTO, and SMTO. There are different formulas for calculating the methanol consumption per unit; one can’t just act on hearsay – it’s necessary to understand how the calculation is done. At present, the SMTO technology is used solely by Sinopec and is not licensed to external parties. The two-reactor configuration of SMTO is similar to that of UOP; both use riser reactors, while the DMTO reactor employs a redistributor for feeding.
The UOP technology is fine; it’s the UOP’s business approach that is too rigid.