In this study, the development of kinetic rate equations
for catalytic
methane chlorination over pellet-type catalysts was addressed. Experimental
data at various temperatures, feed compositions, space velocities,
and pressures were used to estimate the kinetic parameters. The average
errors for methane conversion and methyl chloride (MCM) selectivity
were 15.9 and 4.4%, respectively, validating the effectiveness of
the developed kinetics. A process model was developed by considering
a commercial-scale methane chlorination reactor and separation train.
HCl, which was responsible for half of the chlorine gas in the feed,
might reduce the economics of the process. The MeOH hydrochlorination
reaction was combined with methane chlorination, and three variations
of the combined process were suggested, depending on the configuration
of the separation sequence. The MeOH hydrochlorination reduced the
energy requirement by more than 80% compared to methane chlorination.
Techno-economic analysis showed that the feeding of pure HCl had the
lowest purchase and annual production costs, resulting in the lowest
minimum selling price (MSP) of 0.90 $/kg-MCM. The sensitivity analysis
of the MSP concerning the MeOH and HCl price showed that the proposed
process is the most economical up to 1.8 $/kg-MeOH and 160 $/ton-HCl,
respectively.