Development of Innovative Methanol Synthesis Process Based on Self-Heat Recuperation

In recent years, the demand for methanol will continue increasing. As well as other chemical processes, many methanol synthesis processes have reactant recycle system with product separation due to the low conversion ratio of the reactor. For this product separation from reactant recycle stream, a gas-liquid separator or distillation process has often been used. However, this gas-liquid separator and distillation processes are well known as an energy intensive process. Thus, many chemical engineers and investigators have been managing to produce a catalyst which achieves high conversion from reactant to production in the reactor for whole process optimization. In contrast, authors have developed self-heat recuperation technology based on exergy recuperation, in which whole process heat is utilized without any additional heat, leading to the reduction of energy requirement in several chemical processes. In this research, we developed an innovative integrated process design method based on self-heat recuperation for methanol synthesis process from energy saving point of view.