METHANOL SYNTHESIS SIMULATION FROM SYNTHESIS GAS IN FIXED BED ADIABATIC AND NON-ADIABATIC NON-ISOTHERMAL REACTOR

• Main Author: Febrian Ngadianto, Jason
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/68704
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Indonesia is a methanol importing country with import numbers that continue to increase from 2017-2021 with the largest imports in 2021 reaching 0.98 million tons of imported methanol. Meanwhile, methanol production in Indonesia is only 0.66 million tons per year. In order to reduce the number of methanol imports and increase domestic methanol production, it is necessary to find synthetic raw materials that are cheaper and widely available. Down streaming of coal into methanol is the answer to this problem. However, it is different from the synthesis of steam reformed natural gas, which has a composition of moles of H2/CO of 3. Gas from coal synthesis has a ratio of H2/CO produced in the composition of the feed made in the gasifier. Therefore, reactor modeling and analysis need to be carried out to identify the profile and behavior of the methanol synthesis reactor with gas synthesis as a feed from coal gasification. The reactor model that will be used in this research is the PFR model to analyze the reaction rate, conversion of carbon oxides and hydrogen, and the recovery of methanol in a variable range of operating conditions that are determined. Based on the analysis results of the operating reactor operating mode isothermal, temperature 210°C, pressure 80 bar, GHSV 1000 /hour, and feed composition CO:CO2:H2 2:1:2 resulted in a maximum methanol yield of 16.54%. Then based on the simulation results of the adiabatic operating mode reactor, the temperature was 200°C, pressure was 80 bar, GHSV 16,000/hour, and the feed composition CO:CO2:H2 2:1:5 resulted in a maximum methanol yield of 1.05%. Based on the simulation results of the non-adiabatic non-isothermal operating mode reactor, the temperature is 200°C, pressure is 80 bar, GHSV 500/hour, and the feed composition CO:CO2:H2 2:1:5 produces a maximum methanol yield of 11.66%.