Methanol worldwide production

For example, Samuel French and co-workers used a combined QM/MM approach for modeling the catalyst/substrate interactions in the methanol synthesis process [8]. The annual worldwide production of methanol exceeds 32 M tons, most of which is... 

In 2009, worldwide production of methanol was around 40 million metric tons. Although this amount represents only 0.01% of the worldwide gasoline production, it is nearly equivalent to the total biodiesel and bioethanol production [11], From this number, it is clear that a large-scale replacement of gasoline by methanol as fuel would require an enormous increase of worldwide methanol synthesis capacities. Today, chemical intermediates dominate methanol consumption. Formaldehyde a platform molecule for the synthesis of polymer resins - is responsible for nearly half of the total demand. Acetic acid, MTBE, and methyl methacrylate - a monomer -constitute another 25% [7, 12]. Direct fuel and additive usage accounts for 15% of demand but is expected to rise. 

Successful examples of selective oxidation catalysis in industry include the conversions of ethylene to ethylene oxide and of methanol to formaldehyde, both on silver catalysts. Ethylene oxide, with an annual worldwide production capacity over 11 million tons, is an important intermediate for the production of glycols (antifreeze agents), ethoxylates (additives in washing powder), cosmetics, polyester fibers, and pharmaceuticals. The partial oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide is carried out on silver metal particles supported on o -Al203 or SiC and promoted by alkaline earth or alkali metals. Trace amounts of ethylene dichloride are also fed continuously into the reactor to suppress deep oxidation. Selectivities of about 75-85% are typical nowadays for this process. Formaldehyde, with a production capacity of... 

The industrial capacity for worldwide production of methanol in 1994 was 2.42 x 10 metric tons per year3 about 85% of which was used as a starting material in the production of other chemicals or as a solvent. Methanol is used as a raw material in the manufacture of formaldehyde. acetic acid, methyl /erf-butyl ether (MTBE), dimethyl terephthalate, methyl chloride, methyl amines, and many other chemicals. It can also be used as a clean-burning fuel. 

Worldwide production of acetic acid is dominated by the BP Chemicals methanol carbonylation process originally developed by Monsanto in the 1960s. Previously, acetic acid was manufactured by air-based oxidation of acetaldehyde or light hydrocarbons. Currently about of the acetic acid... 

Acetic acid is produced industrially both synthetically and by bacterial fermentation. Today, the biological route accounts for only about 10% of world production, but it remains important for the production of vinegar, as many nations food purity laws stipulate that vinegar used in foods must be of biological origin. About 75% of acetic acid made for use in the chemical industry is made by methanol carbonylation, explained below. Alternative methods account for the rest. Total worldwide production of virgin acetic acid is estimated at 5 Mt/a (million tonnes per year), approximately half of which... 

Of the alcohols, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, and ethylene glycol rank among the top 50 chemicals with annual worldwide production of the order of a billion kg or more. The most common of the many uses of these chemicals is for the manufacture of other chemicals. Numerous ahphatic alcohols have been reported in the atmosphere. Because of their volatility, the lower alcohols, especially methanol and ethanol, predominate as atmospheric pollutants. Among the other alcohols released to the atmosphere are 1-propanol, 2-propanol, propylene glycol, 1-butanol, and even octadecanol, chemical formula CH3(CH2)i5CH20H, which is evolved by plants. Mechanisms for scavenging alcohols from the atmosphere are relatively efficient because the lower alcohols are quite water soluble and the higher ones have low vapor pressures. 

Bioethanol (mainly from sucrose and starchy crops) and biodiesel production (via transesterihcation of triglycerides) are the main first-generation biofuels that are currently produced on industrial scale. Biodiesel is produced by transesterihcation of triacylglycerols with short-chain alcohols (mainly methanol or ethanol) to produce monoalkyl esters, namely fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) and fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs). The worldwide production of biodiesel is mainly dependent on the utilization of waste oils, animal fats, and oilseeds such as rapeseed, sunflower, and soybeans. The recent food crisis has shown that research should focus on the development of second-generation biofuels generated from lignocellulosic raw materials and industrial waste streams (eg, food industry wastes). 

The worldwide production of acetic acid is more than 10 million tons per year of which about 80% is based on methanol carbonylation technology. Methanol can be carbonylated to give acetic acid by using metal complexes of cobalt or rhodium or iridium as catalysts. All the three processes require the presence of some water and methyl iodide in the... 

The nameplate capacity of worldwide methanol plants is given by country in Table 2 (27). A significant portion of this capacity is based on natural gas feedstock. Percent utilization is expected to remain in the low 90s through the mid-1990s. A principal portion of this added capacity is expected to continue to come from offshore sources where natural gas, often associated with cmde oil production, is valued inexpensively. This has resulted in the emergence of a substantial international trade in methanol. In these cases, the cost of transportation is a relatively larger portion of the total cost of production than it is for domestic plants. 

Formaldehyde. Worldwide, the largest amount of formaldehyde (qv) is consumed in the production of urea—formaldehyde resins, the primary end use of which is found in building products such as plywood and particle board (see Amino resins and plastics). The demand for these resins, and consequently methanol, is greatly influenced by housing demand. In the United States, the greatest market share for formaldehyde is again in the constmction industry. However, a fast-growing market for formaldehyde can be found in the production of acetylenic chemicals, which is driven by the demand for 1,4-butanediol and its subsequent downstream product, spandex fibers (see Fibers, elastomeric). 

Other Markets. The use of methanol in the production of formaldehyde, MTBE, and acetic acid [64-19-7] accounts for approximately two-thirds of the worldwide demand for methanol. Methanol is used as feedstock for various other chemicals, such as dimethyl terephthalate (DMT)... 

Herm/es/Djnamit JS obe/Process. On a worldwide basis, the Hercules Inc./Dynamit Nobel AG process is the dorninant technology for the production of dimethyl terephthalate the chemistry was patented in the 1950s (67—69). Modifications in commercial practice have occurred over the years, with several variations being practiced commercially (70—72). The reaction to dimethyl terephthalate involves four steps, which alternate between liquid-phase oxidation and liquid-phase esterification. Two reactors are used. Eirst, -xylene is oxidized with air to -toluic acid in the oxidation reactor, and the contents are then sent to the second reactor for esterification with methanol to methyl -toluate. The toluate is isolated by distillation and returned to the first reactor where it is further oxidized to monomethyl terephthalate, which is then esterified in the second reactor to dimethyl terephthalate. 

By far the preponderance of the 3400 kt of current worldwide phenolic resin production is in the form of phenol-formaldehyde (PF) reaction products. Phenol and formaldehyde are currently two of the most available monomers on earth. About 6000 kt of phenol and 10,000 kt of formaldehyde (100% basis) were produced in 1998 [55,56]. The organic raw materials for synthesis of phenol and formaldehyde are cumene (derived from benzene and propylene) and methanol, respectively. These materials are, in turn, obtained from petroleum and natural gas at relatively low cost ([57], pp. 10-26 [58], pp. 1-30). Cost is one of the most important advantages of phenolics in most applications. It is critical to the acceptance of phenolics for wood panel manufacture. With the exception of urea-formaldehyde resins, PF resins are the lowest cost thermosetting resins available. In addition to its synthesis from low cost monomers, phenolic resin costs are often further reduced by extension with fillers such as clays, chalk, rags, wood flours, nutshell flours, grain flours, starches, lignins, tannins, and various other low eost materials. Often these fillers and extenders improve the performance of the phenolic for a particular use while reducing cost. 

Fuel cell research has become a major international trend with many engineers working on this technology worldwide. Germany already has enough methanol production to fuel 100,000 cars and worldwide, there is enough methanol for 2 million cars. 

Within the series of the Chemical Economics Handbook published by SRI Consulting, nearly all known direct hydrogen producers worldwide are cited (see www.sriconsulting.com). Another possibility to estimate the produced hydrogen volumes is from the respective hydrogen demand of the final products (e.g., from ammonia, methanol or refinery products) (see LBST (1998)). 

Before 1920s, methanol was obtained from wood as a co-product of charcoal production, hence the name wood alcohol. Methanol is currently manufactured worldwide from syngas, which is derived from natural gas, refinery off-gas, coal or petroleum, as ... 

The transesterification of triglycerides with methanol is a simple and straightforward process. It is commercially practiced worldwide in the production of FAMEs, which have become popular as a replacement for diesel known as biodiesel . The process consists of three separate equilibrium reactions that can be catalyzed by both acids and bases. (4) The overall process is described in Figure 3. Phase separation of the glycerin is the predominant driving force for this process. 

Methanol synthesis from waste C02 streams has the potential to contribute to the limitation of worldwide C02 emissions and to serve as an alternative carbon source to fossil fuels if a renewable source of hydrogen is available (see Section 5.3.1). The main obstacle to methanol synthesis from C02-rich streams is thermodynamics. The equilibrium yield of methanol from 25% C0/C02 75% H2 mixtures of varying C0/C02 ratio is shown in Figure 5.3.5. For pure CO, a one-pass methanol yield of nearly 55% can be obtained at 525 K, while pure C02 would only yield 18%. Besides the addition of CO, this equilibrium limitation can be overcome by operating at lower temperatures (an option that requires more active catalysts), implementing higher recycle ratios, or product extraction (an option that requires higher capital investment) [8]. 

In conclusion, it can be stated that there is a high probability that methanol production will increase worldwide by an order of magnitude, as the advantages of its ease of production from cheap fuel sources, its beneficial effect upon the environment and its versatility are economically realized in the next twenty years. 

The Wacker process reached a maximum production capacity of 2.6 Mt/a worldwide in the mid 1970 s. The cause of the decline in the following years (1.8 Mt/a in 2003) was the increase in the manufacture of acetic acid (the most important product made from acetaldehyde) by the carbonylation of methanol. In future new processes for chemicals, such as acetic anhydride and alkylamines (which were also made from acetaldehyde) will probably further decrease its importance. With the growing use of syngas as feedstock, the one-step... 

Methanol. If methanol is to compete with conventional gasoline and diesel fuel it must be readily available and inexpensively7 produced. Thus methanol production from a low-cost feed stock such as natural gas [8006-14-2] or coal is essential (see Feedstocks). There is an abundance of natural gas (see Gas, NATURAL) worldwide and reserves of coal are even greater than those of natural gas. 

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