Methanol from wood

Methyl Acetone. Commercial product .a water-white, anhydr liq, consisting of various mixts of acet (45 to 65%), methyl acetate (20 to 30%) and methanol (20 to 40%). Density about 0.83g/cc, boiling range 50 to 70°, flash p near 0°F. Miscible with hydrocarbons, oils and w. Obtained as a by-product in the manuf of acet and methanol from wood distn, representing fractions which cannot be economically sepd. The mixt can be used as such, being an excellent solv and plasticizer for NC and other cellulose esters, such as the acetate. It also dissolves rubber, gums, resins, lacquers, paint and varnish Refs 1) T.H, Durrans, Solvents , Van-Nostrand, NY (1938), 122 2) CondChemDict... 

Much attention has been devoted in the professional journals and in the press to gasohol, and announcements of new ethanol plants and process improvements seem unending. A perspective on the problems and promise of gasohol is covered along with a status report on work in Brazil on (fuel) methanol from wood, not by destructive distillation used in the past, but by modern synthetic chemistry. Other promising new uses for... 

This paper covers the current technology of methanol production, reviews how the energy crisis and the escalation of hydrocarbon feedstocks impact that technology, and describes conventional, new, and potential uses for methanol. Methanol is a chemical intermediate and solvent produced from several feedstocks and is consumed in a variety of end uses. Prior to the development of a synthetic route to methanol, commercial quantities were obtained from the destructive distillation of wood or other biomass. Now, with interest focused on conservation and the use of renewable resources, methods have been proposed to use biomass again as a methanol feedstock. While some of these proposals hold great appeal, they are still speculative and beyond the scope of this paper. (Methanol from wood is discussed in the following chapter.)... 

Brazil has produced ethanol as a fuel since 1930. Table II shows that productivity of methanol from wood is better than ethanol from sugar cane and much better than ethanol from wood. This fact plus the convenience of not being dependent on just one crop and the possibility of using poor lands for reforesting indicated that the production of methanol from wood should be more deeply evaluated. 

Energy Balance of Methanol from Wood Plant... 

As the required investment is between US 140 and 180 million the cost of methanol from wood is between US 150 and 165/t using advanced technology, and between US 174 and 190/t using traditional gasification systems. 

CESPfs Experiments in the Production of Methanol from Wood... 

BRECHERET and zagatto Methanol from Wood in Brazil... 

Methanol. As is the case with ethanol, the concept of producing methanol from wood is not new. Methanol obtained from the destructive distillation of wood represented the only commercial source until the 1920s. The yield of methanol from wood by this method is low, only about 1-2 percent or 20 L/metric ton (6 gal/ton) for hardwoods and about one-half that for softwoods. With the introduction of natural gas technology, the industry gradually switched to a synthetic methanol formed from a synthesis gas (syngas) produced from reformed natural gas. Two volumes of H2 and one volume of CO are reacted in a catalytic converter at pressures of 1500-4000 psi to produce methanol. Presently, 99 percent of the methanol produced in the United States is derived from natural gas or petroleum. 

Methanol also may be produced from wood gas so wood could be a future raw material for making methanol, especially for use as an additive to gasoline for internal combustion engines. Thus, reforming the gasification products obtained at high temperatures is a second method for the production of methanol from wood. This is in contrast to the older method (destructive distillation), which directly yields small quantities of methanol at lower temperatures as mentioned above. 

The raw materials cost is the most significant operating cost. The production cost for methanol from wood is estimated to be almost twice that produced from natural gas. Improving the efficiency of the gasifier reactor to increase the quantities of CO and H2 produced from wood would enhance the process. 

Methanol Production. Methanol from wood has been the topic of many studies in Canada, culminating this year in the full scale preliminary design of a 180,000 tpa unit and the design of a demonstration synthesis gas facility. (2,3). 

From this preliminary analysis we see that biomass conversion technologies have the potential to meet the projected rural energy demands in both the subsistence and developmental categories in five out of the six countries. Only in the case of India does there appear to be a relative shortfall and much of that is in the category of liquid fuels. This shortage reflects the fact that the technology we have chosen, methanol from wood, requires an input which is in relatively short supply in India. 

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