Methanex

Mesitylene can be synthesized from acetone by catalytic dehydrocyclization (17). Similarly, cyclotrimerization of acetylenes has produced PMBs such as hexamethylbenzene (18). Durene has been recovered from Methanex s methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) plant in New Zealand (19). 

Address 1800 Waterfront Centre, 200 Bunard St. Vancouver, British Columbia Canada V6C 3M1 Phone +1 800 661 8851 604 661 2600 Fax -K 604 661 2676 E-mail invest methanex.com Web site www.methanex.com/... 

But, methanol is highly toxic and while it has some emissions benefits it adds tangible amounts of formaldehyde to the air. The world methanol infrastructure is the equivalent of about 5% of U.S. gasoline consumption, but new sources could be built up quickly. A major manufacturer of methanol, Methanex has stated that it could build a 350 million plant in 3 years that could fuel 500,000 cars. 

IMPERIAL WESTERN PRODUCTS INC INGERSOLL-RAND COMPANY LIMITED KYOCERA SOLAR INC MANHATTAN SCIENTIFICS INC MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO LTD MCDERMOTT INTERNATIONAL INC MESA ENERGY INC METHANEX CORP... 

INGERSOLL-RAND COMPANY LIMITED MANITOBA HYDRO-ELECTRIC METHANEX CORP NAVITAS ENERGY INC... 

Gensweet GENENCOR INTERNATIONAL INC GenSys On-site Power Systems PLUG POWER INC GeoPark Holdings, Ltd. METHANEX CORP Georgia Power Company SOUTHERN COMPANY (THE)... 

Producers can also source across a mix of plants, and maximize their production at plants offering the best economics at a given moment. Leading methanol producer Methanex exemplifies this approach, optimizing production across its global network. A number of players in the fertilizer industry are also developing this approach, including Koch Industries and Yara. 

LUCITE INTERNATIONAL LYONDELLBASELL INDUSTRIES MACDERMID INCORPORATED MAKHTESHIM-AGAN INDUSTRIES LTD MARATHON OIL CORP MATHESON TRI-GAS INC METHANEX CORP MINERALS TECHNOLOGIES INC MITSUI CHEMICALS INC MOHAWK INDUSTRIES INC MONSANTO CO MOSAIC COMPANY (THE)... 

KUWAIT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LAMSON SESSIONS COMPANY MARATHON OIL CORP METHANEX CORP MONSANTO CO NALCO HOLDING COMPANY NANOPHASE TECHNOLOGIES CORP NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC NEXEN INC... 

CXR [Compact exchange Reforming] A process for converting natural gas into syngas. Developed from 1996 jointly by Methanex, Synetix and ABB Lummus Global, but subsequently abandoned. 

MTG [Methanol To Gasoline] A common abbreviation for any process achieving this conversion, notably the Mobil process. This uses as a catalyst the synthetic zeolite ZSM-5, invented at the Mobil Research Laboratory in 1972. The process was first disclosed in 1976 and commercialized in 1985 by New Zealand Synfuels, a joint venture of Mobil Corporation and Petrocorp. It was subsequently acquired by Methanex. In 1990 this process was providing one third of New Zealand s gasoline requirements, but in 1997 it was shut down because it was uneconomic. 

The ICI Billingham plant (Barclay, 1998), and its more modern successors operated by Methanex and by Air Products, provide expensive hydrogen from natural gas reform via combustion heat. The elimination... 

The author asserts that an isothermal plant arrangement (process integration therefore not applicable) is essential for greater thermodynamic efficiency, and hopefully for cheapness. An equilibrium diagram for such a plant is shown in Figure A.4. The plant is arranged so that exergy is supplied as electrical power and not by combustion heat, an entirely theoretical concept, and therefore a difficult development problem, for Methanex, Air Products and Ballard. 

The Methanex Vancouver web site lays emphasis on methanol production and hopes for the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). Fiydrogen is mentioned, but not the need for a hydrogen mine for the nearby Ballard Power Inc. 

The PEFC system itself will have to face the consequences of irreversibility due to lack of circulators. Crucially, the system must have a hydrogen mine . Perhaps Ballard will need to join with Methanex and Air Products to solve this major development and capital investment problem. There are no signs of that happening. 

Natural gas is the main source of hydrogen. See Barclay (1998) for details of an early ICI large natural gas reform plant, outputting hydrogen and methanol. Balanced marketing of both hydrogen and methanol from such a plant or a modern Canadian equivalent (Methanex Inc. see web site) would be needed. The DMFC is therefore a potentially important, but relatively immature, type of PEFC, and, logically, Ballard and Johnson Matthey are active in that area. 

For that reason, and because the system does not need a reformer, the DMFC, currently a system of relatively low power density, has its vigorous protagonists, notably Methanex which would supply the methanol fuel. 

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