Steam Reforming of Natural Gas to Methanol

Prereforming is not a widely used practice, due in part to the limited number of commercially available catalysts and more specifically to the wide use of li t natural gas feedstocks for methanol manufacture. In recent years more active and stronger prereforming catalysts have been successfully demonstrated in commercial operation, and these will likely be used more frequently when heavy 

Prereformer flow diagram (Courtesy of The M. W. Kelb Compar. ) 

Following feed pretreatment, the next step in the preparation of methanol synthesis gas is the steam reforming of the natural gas to form a mix of hydrogen and carbon oxides. Two principal reactions take place in the steam reformer reforming [Eq. (29)] and water-gas shift [Eq. (20)]. The predominant reaction taking place is the steam reforming of methane [Eq. (21)]. 

The overall reaction within the reformer is endothermic, and conversion is enhanced by hi temperature, low pressure, and high steam-carbon ratios. 

The steam reformer is a large process furnace in which catalyst-filled tubes are heated externally by direet firing to provide the necessary heat for the reactions taking place inside the reformer tubes. In methanol service, fired tubular reformers typicalfy come in two principal types downfired and side-fired. 

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