Synthesis
Synthesis technology
Johnson Matthey's DAVY™ synthesis technologies convert syngas (CO, CO2 & H2) to methanol via exothermic reactions that have a limited conversion rate, so several passes through a reactor are required to produce sufficient methanol.
Consequently, Johnson Matthey's DAVY methanol synthesis reactors (called converters) are designed with an adjoining process loop.
The loop passes the reactants through the converter several times. After each pass, crude methanol is separated by condensation, and the unreacted syngas recycles to the converter along with fresh feed.
Two main factors influence our methanol synthesis flowsheets:
- The syngas feed composition determines the exact design of the methanol loop.
- As the conversion reaction is exothermic, the converter designs vary based on how they remove the reaction heat.
Johnson Matthey offer three different methanol synthesis technologies:
- axial steam-raising converter (A-SRC)
- radial steam-raising converter (R-SRC)
- tube-cooled converter (TCC)
