Construction, materials gasifiers

The following represent some of the possible process applications. Capital costs incorporate engineering, profit, contingencies and interest during construction for a turnkey installation. Material handling, the gasifier and auxiliaries and tie-in to existing facilities are included where applicable. 

For both the cases of methanol production and the use of vehicle-mounted gasifiers, additional investments will be associated with facilities and equipment for harvesting and transport of the biomass to the conversion sites. In the case of ethanol production from currently produced sugar cane juice or molasses, the conversion facilities would be constructed adjacent to sugar mills that already are receiving the biomass raw material. Thus, additional investments for harvesting and transport equipment would not be required. 

Commercial facilities constructed include a coal gasification plant for synthesis gas manufacture, raw gas cleanup and separation facilities, a sulfur recovery unit, a coal-fired steam plant, and chemical plants to produce methanol, methyl acetate, acetic acid, and acetic anhydride. In the 1980s, these plants gasified approximately 900 tons of coal/day to produce annually over 500 million lb of acetic anhydride, 150 million lb of acetic acid, 390 million lb of methyl acetate, 365 million lb of methanol, and 15 million lb of sulfur. An expansion in 1991 more than doubled the capacity for methyl acetate, acetic acid, and acetic anhydride. Approximately one billion lb of acetic anhydride, one of Eastman s key raw materials, is used each year in making photographic film base, Tenite cellulosic plastics, Estron acetate for filter tow, textile yarns, and coatings chemicals. 

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