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The natural gas feedstock is first preheated and de‐sulphurized (382°C/25bar), absorption is carried out over Zinc oxide granules, and then reacted with steam to produce a reformed gas/steam mixture at 860°C temperature and 21 bar pressure.
The reforming reaction is basically the reaction between a hydrocarbon and steam to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. In the presence of excess steam these basic products are modified to produce quantities of carbon dioxide and methane, giving a reformed gas consisting of methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
The reformed gas/steam mixture is then cooled, separated from process condensate and passed into the make‐up gas compressor where the gas is compressed (36°C /17bar) to a high pressure (113°C/49bar) to be injected into the methanol synthesis loop.
With Carbon Dioxide Additions, the external supply of carbon dioxide is mixed with the high pressure gases from the make‐up gas compressor before injection into the synthesis loop.
Synthesis gases are circulated at high flow rates through a methanol synthesis catalyst held at moderate temperatures (135°C/52bar) where hydrogen reacts with carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide to produce gaseous methanol.
Cooling of the circulated gas condenses crude liquid methanol which is bled from the system and sent to crude storage. The remaining gases are then replenished with make‐up gas before entering the synthesis gas circulator to pass round the loop again.
Inert gases (methane) present in the reformed gas accumulate in the loop and are bled from the system to be burnt as fuel.
The crude methanol contains small concentrations of other organic chemicals synthesized in the methanol converter.
The crude product is then taken from storage, fractionated in two distillation columns and the pure methanol passed to purified product storage tanks.