Primary petrochemicals such as propylene are conventionally produced by steam cracking or catalytic cracking in FCC units in refineries. From each of these sources, propylene is only a by-product. To meet strong demand growth for propylene derivatives and to utilise abundant "stranded" or flared natural gas, Lurgi offers its technologies from gas to propylene via methanol.
These technologies are oxygen-blown natural gas reforming, MegaMethanol® synthesis and methanol to propylene conversion (MTP®). Using low cost gas the MegaMethanol® technology will reduce the methanol production cost to 80 US$/t.
Methanol available at low cost is an attractive feedstock for producing propylene. The Lurgi technology uses a catalytic fixed bed reactor system providing high propylene selectivity. Defined residence time, absence of catalyst attrition and avoidance of temperature shocks by in-situ catalyst regeneration are the main advantages. The low investment cost results from simple processing elements.
The economics for methanol to propylene are very attractive, depending on the propylene price. Assuming US$ 400 per ton of propylene and US$80 per ton of methanol the internal rate of return (IRR) will be 26.3% per year.
Why should the oil and gas industry promote technology development in the conversion of natural gas to valuable products? Why is an engineering company investing a big portion of its considerable R&D budget in the same? Three main answers are:
plentiful gas supply sources,
environmental aspects and regulations, and
"monetizing" the abundant natural gas reserves in remote areas.
Both, economic and environmental benefits from the use of natural gas are the driving forces and will support the continuous innovation regarding gas-based technologies.
What first comes to mind with GTL is Fischer-Tropsch, the classic route from coal or natural gas to transportation fuels (synfuels). Lurgi on the other hand promotes methanol-based technologies for upgrading of natural gas to value-added products. These primarily would be DME (dimethyl ether), propylene and synfuels again.
Since Lurgi introduced its new groundbreaking MegaMethanol® process for plants with a production of 5,000 tons of methanol per day and more, methanol will be available at a constant low price in the foreseeable future. This development has an enormous impact on downstream technologies for the conversion of methanol to more valuable products.
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The first derivative of methanol in this context is DME which has a high potential as alternative to conventional diesel fuel and as feedgas for gas turbines in power generation. The next step is the use of methanol as feedstock for the production of olefins which is one of the most promising new applications. Lurgi's new MethanolToPropylene (MTP®) proce