110th Anniversary: Characterization of a Condensing CO₂ to Methanol Reactor

Abstract

A novel condensing reactor for conversion of CO2 to methanol is characterized under forced convective conditions, both experimentally and by modeling. The goal of the study is to optimize the operation conditions and identify limitations of the reactor concept. Experimental results show that productivity is limited by reaction equilibrium and mass transport at high temperature (>250 °C), while reaction kinetics limit productivity at low temperature (<220 °C). Further analysis of the liquid out/gas in concept is performed by an adiabatic 1D-reactor model in combination with an equilibrium flash condenser model. To enable autothermal operation, internal heat exchange is required. It was found that a condenser temperature below 70 °C is required to avoid excessive heat exchange areas. Increasing the length of the catalyst section, and with this the overall reactor size, will increase the conversion per pass, until equilibrium is reached. On the other hand, the internal recycle ratio is decreased and thus less heat exchange and condenser area is required, decreasing overall reactor size. With the model developed, overall reactor performance can be optimized by finding the most optimal combination of reactor and condenser conditions in the recycle system.

Century of Technology Trends in Methanol Synthesis: Any Need for Kinetics Refitting?

“…The reactor model is necessary to introduce component balances in the refitting procedure and build a correlation between the input and the output to interpret experimental observations. A simple one-dimensional reactor model can be described using the following material balances over the axial direction z ,− for each k th component involved in the j th reaction (reaction identification number as listed in Table for Graaf’s model). Since the reaction rates are defined as moles consumed in time per unit mass of the catalyst, the bulk density, i.e., mass of the catalyst per global volume of the reactor, needs to be included in the calculations.…”

Recent advances in direct air capture by adsorption

“…Bos et al 547 designed a liquid out/gas in concept reactor (LOGIC) for the direct conversion of CO 2 to MeOH based on a commercial Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 catalyst. This design was later used to assess the cost and efficiency of wind power in the MeOH system.…”

Process Design for the Directly Coupled Production of Methanol and Formaldehyde Based on CO2

“…In the light of sustainable production chains, a purely CO 2 ‐based methanol synthesis is subject of recent and ongoing research [25, 27–31]. Pioneering companies such as Carbon Recycling International and HIF Global have taken up operation of plants with production capacities of up to 1 Mt a –1 of green methanol, bringing CO 2 ‐based methanol synthesis on the verge of commercialization [32, 33].…”