Simulación de la obtención de metanol a partir de biogás utilizando diferentes esquemas de producción

Abstract

The aim of this work is to simulate the process of obtaining methanol from biogas by means of the direct hydrogenation of synthesis gas produced from biogas reforming. To carry out this work, a complete bibliographic review was implemented, where three production schemes were selected, two complex schemes based on Ghosh's work and a simpler one based on Santos, Santos and Prata. The simulation of the three production schemes was carried out in the DWSIM software with the parameters specified by each author. Subsequently, the results were validated based on the methanol flow obtained in each plant by calculating the percentage error of each one. Then, the sensitivity analysis was carried out in the pilot plant where different parameters related to the process were modified in order to verify the influence that these parameters present on the production of methanol. Finally, conversions, methanol fluxes, methanol purity and energy consumption were compared among the different schemes. It is found that the plant that operates at an industrial level using two reactors presents a higher performance within the three schemes analyzed, this based on its higher production and purity of methanol obtained as a result of the simulation. It is recommended to carry out a pitch analysis on the basic production scheme in order to analyze the possibility of reducing heating consumption within the scheme.