Abstract
Glycerol is a by-product of biodiesel production and may become an environmental problem. This paper investigates the utilization of glycerol as alternative feedstock for methanol production. A mathematical model of the methanol plant encompassing the steam reforming and methanol synthesis units is employed to generate data for an economic analysis involving two comparative cases: the conventional operation of the plant using only natural gas and the operation with partial substitution of the natural gas by glycerol. The results indicate that the glycerol injection can reduce the total natural gas consumption by about 11% for a given fixed methanol production. A breakeven analysis procedure is applied to determine the limit price of glycerol that makes this operation economically feasible. Based on a natural gas price of 10.13 US$/MMbtu, this analysis demonstrates that glycerol injection is feasible if its price is lower than 78.5 US$/t. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis indicates that a variation of 10% on the natural gas price causes a 26% variation on the glycerol breakeven point. The complete set of data indicates that it is possible to explore periods of glycerol low prices to reduce the operational costs of methanol plants that suffer from high natural gas prices.
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Abbreviations
- i :
-
Component
- j :
-
Reaction
- ã :
-
Catalyst activity
- Ac :
-
Tube cross-sectional area (m2)
- Cpm :
-
Specific heat capacity (J/kg K)
- C NG :
-
Natural gas cost (US$/t MeOH)
- C Gly :
-
Glycerol cost (US$/t MeOH)
- C tot :
-
Total operating cost (US$/t MeOH)
- d e :
-
Outer tube diameter (m)
- F i :
-
Molar flow rate of the component i (kmol/s)
- F Gly,purif :
-
Purified glycerol consumption (t/t MeOH)
- F NG,feed :
-
Natural gas consumption related to raw material (m3/t MeOH)
- F NG,ref :
-
Natural gas consumption related to fuel (m3/t MeOH)
- F NG,vap :
-
Natural gas consumption related to the glycerol vaporization (m3/t MeOH)
- F PG,ref :
-
Fuel purge gas consumption (m3/t MeOH)
- G :
-
Mass flux (kg/s m2)
- K :
-
Equilibrium constant
- K eq1 :
-
Equilibrium constant for Eq. (16)
- K eq2 :
-
Equilibrium constant for Eq. (17)
- kd :
-
Reaction rate constant
- ke :
-
Reaction rate constant
- K f :
-
Flash K value
- l :
-
Axial position along the reactor tube (m)
- LHV:
-
Lower heating value (J/m3)
- n :
-
Number of moles (mol)
- N :
-
Stoichiometric number
- P :
-
Pressure (bar)
- P o :
-
Reference pressure (bar)
- P NG :
-
Natural gas price (US$/m3)
- P Gly,raw :
-
Raw glycerol price (US$/t purified glycerol)
- P Gly,purif :
-
Glycerol purification price (US$/t purified glycerol)
- PROD:
-
Methanol production (t/s)
- Q absorbed :
-
Absorbed heat load (W)
- Q fired :
-
Fired heat load (W)
- R :
-
Universal gas constant (J/mol K)
- r :
-
Reaction rate (kmol/s kgcat)
- T :
-
Temperature (K)
- Tw :
-
Pipe external wall temperature (K)
- U :
-
Overall heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)
- V :
-
Molar volume (m3)
- v:
-
Vapor fraction
- x :
-
Liquid phase composition
- y :
-
Vapor molar fraction
- z :
-
Global feed composition
- ΔCp°:
-
Molar heat capacity difference (J/mol K)
- ΔG°:
-
Standard Gibbs energy variation at temperature T (J/mol)
- ΔG 0°:
-
Standard Gibbs energy variation at temperature T 0 (J/mol)
- ΔH°:
-
Standard enthalpy variation at temperature T (J/mol)
- ΔH r :
-
Molar heat of reaction at temperature T (J/mol)
- ΔH 0°:
-
Standard enthalpy variation at temperature T 0 (J/mol)
- ε:
-
Extent of reaction
- η :
-
Steam reformer radiation zone efficiency
- ν:
-
Stoichiometric number
- ρB :
-
Bed density (kg/m3)
- φ:
-
Fugacity coefficient
- φL :
-
Liquid phase fugacity coefficient
- φV :
-
Vapor phase fugacity coefficient
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França, R.G.D., Souza, P.A., Lima, E.R.A. et al. An extended techno-economic analysis of the utilization of glycerol as an alternative feedstock for methanol production. Clean Techn Environ Policy 19, 1855–1865 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1391-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1391-4