Study of the characteristics of methanol synthesis in a recirculation slurry reactor - A novel three-phase synthesis reactor

摘要

A process feasibility analysis on the liquid phase methanol synthesis (LPMeOH (TM)) process was performed in a recirculation slurry reactor (RSR). In the three-phase RSR system, a fine catalyst is slurried in the paraffin and this catalyst slurry is continuously recirculated through the nozzle from the slurry sector to the entrained sector by a pump. The syngas is fed concurrently with the downward flow of slurry to form the methanol product. A laboratory scale mini-pilot plant version of a recirculation slurry reactor system was successfully designed and built to carry out process engineering research, and in addition, an identical cold model was built to measure the mass transfer coefficient in the recirculation slurry reactor. The effects of operating conditions, including temperature, pressure, gas flow rate and catalyst slurry recirculation flow rate on the productivity of methanol were studied. This experimental data helps the scale-up and commercialization of the methanol synthesis process in recirculation slurry reactors.