CFD simulation and sensitivity analysis of an industrial packed bed methanol synthesis reactor

The conversion of renewable hydrogen to methanol as energy carrier could be a key solution to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and deal with the climate change. In the present study a steady-state Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model has been employed to simulate packed bed reactor for methanol production from natural gas to predict the behavior of gas streams in the tube side. The model consists of two-dimensional mass and heat transport equations accounting for axial and radial dispersion in the reactor tube. After validating the numerical results, the sensitivity analysis of various parameters such as reactor length, tube diameter, inflow temperature, shell temperature, operating pressure, flow rate and carbon source in the feed stream on the rate of methanol production of an industrial petrochemical plant have been studied. As can be seen in numerical results, some parameters such as shell temperature, operating pressure, flow rate and carbon source in the feed stream have a significant impact on methanol production while some other parameters such as tube length and tube diameter have little effect on methanol productivity. Numerical results indicate that by using the recommended parameters, methanol production increases about 1.6 times compared to the operating conditions of the plant.

Automated summary

In this study, a steady-state Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was used to simulate a packed bed reactor for methanol production from natural gas. The model predicted the behavior of gas streams in the reactor tube by accounting for axial and radial dispersion with two-dimensional mass and heat transport equations. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine the impact of various parameters on the rate of methanol production in an industrial petrochemical plant. The results showed that shell temperature, operating pressure, flow rate, and carbon source significantly influenced methanol production, while tube length and diameter had little effect.