Revamps for Ageing Methanol

Plants
By
Gerard B. Hawkins
Managing Director, CEO
Introduction
This presentation highlights some of
the retrofits that can be applied to
Improve efficiency
Increase production

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Introduction
For older methanol plants, efficiency
is worse than for a modern plant
To maximize profit must improve
either
Plant efficiency
Plant production rate
This presentation highlights some of
the retrofits that can be applied to
improve efficiency or production
Plant Limitations
Need to address plant limitations, such
as
Reformer pressure drop
Maximum tube wall temperature
Coil design temperatures in duct
Fan capacity
Compressor/Circulator limitations
High loop pressure drop
Low carbon efficiency

Basis for Study
Foster Wheeler furnace - 560 tubes
Steam to carbon of 3.0
No saturator
Duct heat recovery is feed preheat and
steam raising
100 bar loop with no heat recovery
4 Bed Quench Lozenge Converter
Reformer Revamps
Addition of Secondary
Either in parallel or in series
Parallel has less impact on the main
plant
Main plant can run when secondary
off line
Allows for optimization of Synthesis Gas
composition
Can increase production rate by 23%
Require an oxygen plant (10 mt/hr)
Addition of an ATR
Existing
Reformer
NG Preheater
NG/Steam
Preheater
MUG Cooler
Oxygen Preheater
Steam Drum
MP Boiler
Natural Gas
Make Up Gas
Condensate
Addition of a Pre-Reformer
To obtain maximum benefit require reheat
of effluent
Can achieve very high preheat and reheat
temperature with latest generation of pre-
reforming catalyst, which can be operated
up to 540C
Can recover more heat from duct and
reduce furnace duty significantly
Must model effect on duct to ensure that existing
demands for heat are fulfilled (HP Steam Raising)
Addition of a Pre-Reformer
MP Steam
Existing
Reformer
Natural Gas
Synthesis Gas
Pre-reformer
New Reheat
Coil
Addition of Saturator
Recovers heat from loop into front end
Maximizes quality and quantity
Quantity depends on existing loop
equipment
Can use refining column bottoms as
feed water
Can feed fusel oil into circuit and
recycle carbon back into process
For Base Case up to 40 mt/hr of
steam could be raised in the saturator
Addition of a Saturator
MP Steam
Existing
Reformer
Natural Gas
Synthesis Gas
Heater
Saturator
Combustion Air Preheat
Allows for improvement in heat recovery from
the duct
Most suitable for top fired furnaces but can be
applied to side fired furnaces
Cost is higher due to complexity of ducting
Will reduce fluegas flow and therefore heat
available in the duct - must model this
carefully
Greater benefit than preheating the fuel gas
Effect of Combustion Air Preheat
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
0 200 400 600
Combustion Air Preheat Temperature
N
G

F
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R
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(
k
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/
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1116
1118
1120
1122
1124
1126
1128
F
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g
a
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F
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w

(
k
m
o
l
/
h
r
)
NG Fuel Rate
Fluegas Flow
Reformer Retube
Can improve production rate by up to 18%
If additional feed gas available
If sufficient capacity on synthesis gas machine
Alternatively can increase exit temperature if
exit headers allow
Reduces methane slip
Production rate increased by 3%
Also reduce pressure drop across primary
reformer
This partially offsets increased pressure drop in other
front end equipment items

MUG Compressor Converter
Addition of a converter between
stages of synthesis gas machine
drops flowrate through the machine
Allows for
Reduction in power
Or increased throughput (+5.5%)
whilst maintaining machine power
Addition of Purge Converter
Can use either a Tube Cooled Converter or
Steam Raising Converter
Can be single pass or multiple pass
Single pass is cheaper
Production increase of 2%
Multiple pass more expensive but
production increase is greater
Production increase of 3%
Best improvement occurs if more feed gas or
CO
2
addition is used in conjunction

Purge Converter
MUG
Flash Drum
Tube-cooled
Converter
Cooler
Parallel Converter
Installing a parallel steam raising
converter allows
Marginal production (1%) increases if no
addition synthesis gas is available
Large increases (4%) if additional
synthesis gas is available either from a
front end rate increase or by CO
2
addition
Especially beneficial if recycle gas rate
is low
Loop pressure drop is decreased and
therefore a higher recycle flow can be
achieved
Parallel Converter
MUG
Separator
New Interchanger
Crude
Purge
New Steam
Raising
Converter
Replace Exiting Converter with
Steam Raising Converter
Lower operating temperature of a steam
raising converter equates to higher end
of life activity
With a steam raising converter, all the
gas is passed over all of the catalyst
Production rates are therefore higher - in
this case 2.1%
If loop is less efficient then production
increase will be greater
CO
2
Addition to Reformer/Loop
If local source of CO
2
is available then can
be added to either reformer or the loop
Addition to the reformer does mean
synthesis gas composition will be more
carbon rich
Potential issues with metal dusting
downstream of the reformer in waste
heat boiler
In either case, molecular weight of
circulating gas is increased and circulation
rate will be reduced
Often this effect is overlooked and in
reality predicted production rates will not
be achieved
CO
2
Addition to Reformer/Loop
There is an optimum amount of CO
2

that can be added
As more CO
2
is added then carbon
efficiency does drop
But production steadily increases
However, the reduction in recycle ratio can
be so large that the production rate is
reduced
Effect is worse if recycle ratio is low to
start with
CO
2
addition to the reformer will
produce more incremental methanol
per ton of CO
2
Effect of CO
2
Addition
1250
1300
1350
1400
1450
1500
1550
0 200 400 600
CO2 Addi ti on Rate (kmol /hr)
M
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m
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0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
R

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Producti on
R Rati o
Other Options
AGHR in parallel/replacement of WHB
H
2
recovery when loop is operating below
stiochiometry
Ammonia cooling of purge/letdown gases to
recover methanol
Water washing of purge/letdown gases to
recover methanol
CO
2
recovery from fluegas
Add CO rich gases
Spike feed with higher hydrocarbons
Add POx unit
Plant Revamp
Methanol Capacity Increases
What capacity
increase is required ?
>15%
Front End
Change SC ratio
CA preheat
Fuel preheat
Increase exit temp
<5%
Front End
Change catalyst
Add pre-reformer
5-15%
Compression/Loop
MUG Converter*
Chill Syn Gas
Compression/Loop
ARC converter*
IMC converter*
Purge converter*
Parallel converter*
Catchpot chiller
Front End
Parallel secondary
Re-tube
Compression/Loop
CO
2
addition
* - Additional synthesis gas will allow
for much bigger increases in
capacity
Plant Revamp Methanol
Efficiency Improvements
What efficiency improvement
is required ?
>1 GJ/t
Front End
Chill syngas
MUG converter
<0.1 GJ/t
Front End
Fuel gas preheat
Saturator
Pre-reformer
0.1-1 GJ/t
Front End
Combustion air
preheat
Problems and Pitfalls
Contractor and Contract
Must carefully select partners
Must have domain knowledge
Design and operations
Must have correct tools
Must be able to supply correct level of detail
for study
Must select appropriate contract type
LSTK or Reimbursable
Both have advantages and disadvantages
Problems and Pitfalls
Modelling Capability
Must use correct tools
Model the whole plant using a
flowsheeting package
Must include all unit operations
Must develop a robust base case
Must validate against plant data
Must understand deviations
Then develop the retrofit case
Problems and Pitfalls
Retrofit Details
The customer and engineering contractor
must determine
Precise scope for retrofit
Responsibilities
Key deliverables
A detailed and consistent design basis
Time scale and milestones
Review schedules
Summarize as Good Project Management

Problems and Pitfalls
Design Basis
Engineering contractor must conduct
on site visit
Must work with client
Collect representative plant data
Model and understand plant data
Discuss discrepancies and eliminate
Identify bottlenecks
Identify opportunities for improvement
These form the core of the design
basis
Problems and Pitfalls
HAZOPs and Commissioning
Must use systematic review method to
highlight potential problems with retrofit
HAZOPs are a well proven system
Requires time and buy in from all parties
Results as good as quality of people !
Retrofit will change plant parameters
Must update PFDs and P&IDs
Must update operating instructions
Must take additional care during start up
What Can GBHE Catalysts Offer?
Detail catalyst unit operation models
such as the industry leading
VULCAN REFORMER
SIMULATION program
Also models for other catalyst unit
operations
Detail non-catalyst unit operation
models such as
Heat exchange programs
Finite Element Analysis
CFD modelling
One stop shop

What Can GBHE Catalysts Offer?
Domain Knowledge
Operations
Many staff have operations
background
Troubleshooting clients plants
Design
Many staff have detailed
engineering background
Engineers work on design daily
Work with leading contractors
on front end and detailed
design issues


Catalysts
Consulting
Services
Domain
Knowledge
What Can GBHE Catalysts Offer?
Can supply any level of detail for
retrofit
Scoping studies
Front End
What are the best options
Front End Engineering
Flowsheets and design of key components
Detailed Engineering
Design of all components of retrofit
A one stop shop for your revamp
requirements

One Stop Shop Case Study
Re-tube Present Model
Plant
Operator
Concept
Engineer
Tube
Supplier
Catalyst
Vendor
Tube
Installer
Catalyst
Handler
No Communication
Detailed
Engineer
One Stop Shop Case Study
Re-tube One Stop Shop Model
Plant
Operator
GBHE
Concept Engineer
Tube
Supplier
Tube
Installer
Catalyst
Handler
Detailed
Engineer
Seamless
Minimum Cost
Maximum Benefit
Case Study
How GBHE Catalysts Works
Strong position due to credibility from previous
work
Uprate projects
Feasibility Process Uprate study on Naphtha 115%,
130% or 150% cases
FEEP (Front End Engineering Package, what would be
needed?)
115% FEEP adopted
Option evaluations and natural gas feed conversion
Followed by full Engineering Detail Design
Also additional design work on Desulpurisation
Design Study

Conclusions
A number of retrofits have been
presented that are suitable for
application to methanol plants
They address all the key limitations that
methanol plants typically suffer from
To take full benefit from some of these
retrofits, others may also be required
GBHE Catalysts has all the right
expertise and knowledge to develop and
design retrofits