Methanol Weekly Topic: What are the main challenges in expanding methanol production facilities? 2016.03.2...
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Methanol: Weekly Topic. Despite minimal fluctuations in the prices of raw materials such as coal, the price of methanol has been rising steadily recently, indicating a very favorable situation. Under these conditions, some methanol production facilities are expanding their capacity. How great is the potential for further expansion of such facilities? What are the main challenges in expanding methanol production facilities? How can we achieve safe, stable expansion and improved efficiency? 2016.03.21---2016.03.27
Technically, it shouldn’t be a difficult task, as this process technology is already quite mature nowadays； In my opinion, the most important challenge is to find a way to ensure that there is no reckless expansion, so that this industry can develop healthily and does not end up becoming another version of the steel and cement industries ； It will ultimately only lead to vicious competition among industries ； On the other hand, it is necessary not only to improve one’s own capabilities but also to keep production costs competitive while ensuring quality, in order to be able to survive in the long term ；
It mainly depends on the source; methods such as gasification conversion hold potential. Transformation, purification, synthesis, etc. are all easy to expand. Assist with tasks related to the energy balance of heating networks and the comprehensive environmental protection and utilization.
Each set of equipment has its own capacity limitations; for example, the furnace bricks in a gasification furnace cannot withstand higher flow rates, and modifications are required – this constitutes a bottleneck. It is necessary to modify and optimize the various bottlenecks and areas that need improvement across the entire system in order to increase production capacity and efficiency. It is necessary for the design institute to conduct a calculation of the entire system in order to achieve a more reasonable renovation.
A thorough and careful calibration of the processes, equipment, and utility systems across the entire system is carried out to identify the bottlenecks in the installations, determine appropriately the extent to which production can be increased through upgrades, and conduct comparisons among various options. We have just assisted a company with the design of the process package for a coal-water slurry-based methanol plant with an annual production capacity of 700,000 tons, to carry out a modification that increases its production by 50%; the first step in this process is to conduct a thorough calibration of the entire system
Could you tell me what modifications were made? Thank you
First, the capability of each process is determined, with particular attention paid to the actual capacity of the reactor; finally, the pipeline fluid transport system and the power machinery are evaluated. Then there is the supporting infrastructure for various utility services and heating networks, as well as their adaptability. Finally, the revised plan was approved.
We have just assisted a company with the design of the process package for a 700,000 tons per year methanol production plant using water-coal slurry, to enable a 50% increase in production capacity – New Energy Phoenix??