Published October 2014
Methanol is a high-volume industrial alcohol (CAS: 67-56-1), which is a clear liquid at standard temperature and pressure with a low viscosity. It is used primarily as a feedstock to make derivative chemicals. Methanol can also be used to produce gasoline via the ExxonMobil MTG process, as commercialized in New Zealand. Its chemical structure is CH3OH, and its molecular weight is 32.04 g/mol. Methanol is highly flammable and toxic to humans.
In 2013, global methanol demand was approximately 60 million metric tons, while supply was 97 million metric tons, resulting in an industry capacity utilization of 62%. Global demand growth between 2013 and 2015 is expected to average 7.5% per year. Major global methanol producers include Methanex (Canada), National Petrochemical Company (Iran), Sabic (Saudi Arabia), Petronas (Malaysia), and Kingboard (Hong Kong). Methanol spot prices for the largest market (China) were $350-450/mt during 2013.
Methanol is produced commercially in a 3-step process. In the first step, synthesis gas (a hydrogen:carbon monoxide vapor mixture with a molar ratio of 2:1) is produced from natural gas in most countries, but from coal via gasification in China. In the second step, the synthesis gas is condensed to produce crude methanol in a fixed bed reactor using copper/zinc on alumina catalyst. In the third step, methanol is purified by conventional fractional distillation.
This review presents the production economics for producing methanol from natural gas and separately from syngas via four licensed technology processes (Haldor-Topsoe, JM /Davy, Lurgi, and Toyo Engineering). We also present the integrated Lurgi coal-to-methanol process. Lastly, we present production economics for producing methanol from coal via five separate licensed gasification technologies (GE Quench, GE Radiant, Shell Oil, CB&I E-Gas, and Siemens). Our production economics are based upon ‘mega methanol’ production capacity of nominally 5,000 metric tons per day.
This review also highlights the new iPEPSpectra™ cost module. The cost module, which is provided with the electronic version of this review, is a powerful interactive tool with which the user can interpret data in a flexible manner by generating pivot tables and corresponding charts. In this review, the iPEPSpectra™ cost module is demonstrated with historical economics for the methanol processes for different regions of the world. Until now, most process economics were presented as snapshot comparisons. Due to fluctuation and variation of feedstock and utility prices over time and in different regions, ranking of the processes using a snapshot comparison can be misleading. An iPEPSpectra™ historical economics comparison provides a more comprehensive way of assessing competing technologies, leading to a more valid investment decision.