Liquid Phase Methanation Pilot Plant:Installation and Operation. Interim Annual Report,July 1, 1976--June 30, 1977.

摘要

The Liquid Phase Methanation Pilot Plant was completed in Texas City,Texas and shipped to the Institute of Gas Technology HYGAS Pilot Plant in Chicago,Illinois. The unit was reassembled and installed. Check-out included pressure testing with nitrogen,cold oil circulation tests and,finally,several round-the-clock runs with process oil and nitrogen at conditions up to 550exp 0 F and 600psig. The first batch of catalyst was loaded into the LPM reactor and reduced. The pilot plant was brought to stand-by conditions and fluidization tests were performed with liquid only. Three hours of HYGAS product were fed to the unit before an upset in the HYGAS clean-up section terminated gas flow. Later,the run was restarted on steam-methane reformer gas for an additional 25hours. Catalyst activity was lower than expected. Run No. 2performed with a second batch of catalyst involved 60hours of operation with synthesis gas from IGT's steam methane reformer. Process variable scans confirmed the effect of synthesis gas flow rate and H sub 2 /CO ratio as correlated from earlier laboratory experiments. Catalyst activity,however,was approximately exp 1 /sub 3lower than measured in the smaller units. A poor catalyst batch or an inadequate reduction procedure was suspected. In laboratory support work three new catalyst formulations were tested in the Process Development Unit. A new process liquid with a low pour point (-35exp 0 F) was also tested and found satisfactory for use in the pilot plant. The bench scale unit was run with a synthesis gas simulating the gas that would be obtained from IGT's steam-methane reformer (H sub 2 /CO ratio = 6/1). The pilot plant experimental program was modified to make use of this auxiliary gas when the HYGAS Plant was not delivering coal-derived synthesis gas. (ERA citation 03:049361)