24 May 2019
DETAILS
The production processes
of the most important basic chemicals
are responsible for around 70 percent
of the greenhouse gas emissions
in the chemical industry.
BASF experts are working intensely on
new technologies
to substantially reduce emissions in these processes.
The company has bundled all of this work
under the roof of its ambitious
Carbon Management Program.
One of the first visible successes in this area
has been achieved by a project team
which has applied to
patent a process
to produce methanol
without any greenhouse gas emissions.
If it can be successfully implemented
at an industrial scale,
the entire production process
– from syngas production to pure methanol –
will no longer release any carbon dioxide emissions.
Typically, methanol is made from syngas,
which until now has been primarily
obtained from natural gas
via a combination of steam
and autothermal reforming.
Using special catalysts, this can then be turned
into crude methanol, which can be further processed
after purification.
In the new BASF process, the syngas
is generated by partial oxidation of natural gas,
which does not cause any carbon dioxide emissions
and has proven to be advantageous
in a study jointly conducted with
Linde Engineering.
The subsequent process steps
– methanol synthesis and distillation –
can be carried out nearly unchanged.
Ingenuity was required to address
the merging and processing
of the waste gas streams
that arise during methanol synthesis and distillation
and which cannot be avoided even with
optimal process management.
These waste gas streams consisting of
methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide
and hydrogen are incinerated
in an Oxyfuel process with pure oxygen.
This results in a small volume of flue gas
with a maximum carbon dioxide content.
The flue gas is then scrubbed using
BASF’s proven OASE® process
for full recovery of the carbon dioxide.
To ensure that the carbon contained
in the carbon dioxide is not lost
and that it can be used again
for methanol synthesis,
the captured carbon dioxide is fed back
into the beginning of the process.
This does, however, require additional hydrogen,
which BASF also aims to produce
without any carbon dioxide emissions,
for example, via methane pyrolysis,
which is also being developed
in the Carbon Management research program.
The basic chemical methanol
is an important starting material
for many products in different BASF value chains.
Derived products such as
formaldehyde, acetic acid and methylamines
are very important in terms of volume.
Other important derivatives include
methyl tert-butyl ether, methyl methacrylate,
polyalcohols and silicones.
Methanol also serves as an energy supplier
and can be used as a raw material
for chemical conversion into other fuels
or fuel additives.
Aspects of the new CO2emission-free methanol synthesis process
were tested in a pilot plant at BASF’s subsidiary
hte GmbH in Heidelberg, Germany.
Project manager Dr. Maximilian Vicari and
hte expert Dr. Nakul Thakar are pleased to have solved challenges
that arose during
the activation of the catalyst and the operation of the plant.
Project manager
Dr. Maximilian Vicari
from BASF’s Intermediates division
“We are optimistic that our climate-friendly approach
will better adapt methanol synthesis
to the requirements of the 21st century,”
“Nearly 100 years after the first industrial-scale production
of this important basic chemical
using BASF’s high-pressure process,
we are now taking a leading role
in writing the newest chapter
in the history of methanol.”
Vicari expects it will be around 10 years
before this new process
is carried out in an industrial-scale plant.
BASF SE
67056 Ludwigshafen
www.basf.com
presse.kontakt@basf.com
Media Relations
Christian Böhme
Phone: +49 621 60-20130
christian.boehme@basf.com
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