A Feasibility Study of the Conversion of Petrochemical Off-Gas Streams to Methanol Over CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 Catalyst

CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst is commercially employed for methanol manufacturing. The push to enhance the production capacity and reduce CO2 emissions is stimulated by commercial and environmental considerations. Provided that, the present study addressed the assessment of methanol production from the collected CO2-rich off-gas streams in a petrochemical plant by a CAMERE process, which includes a primary reverse water-gas shift reactor (iron-based catalyst) for the conversion of CO2 to CO followed by a conventional methanol reactor (CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst). The feasibility study is conducted by employing a validated mathematical model. The acquired results demonstrate that the new strategy is capable of intensifying methanol manufacturing (more than 15%, equivalent to 52,500 tonnes per year) and reducing CO2 release (more than 56%). As a whole, running the new plant by employing a two-step off-gas transformation to methanol would result in intensified production capacity and environmental benefits.

Automated summary

This study evaluates a new process for methanol production, which can enhance production and reduce CO2 emissions by converting CO2-rich off-gas.