Abstract
Methanol to aromatics (MTA) process not only involves the dehydrogenation-aromatization reactions but also the undesirable side reactions (e.g., hydrogen transfer, dealkylation, disproportionation, isomerization). As-produced aromatics composition was not favorable for the subsequent para-xylene (PX) manufacturing process in the MTA plant. In this study, we proposed the decentralized methonal feed strategy for process intensification of MTA and compared the effects of the centralized feed and decentralized feed on MTA reaction. It was found that the decentralized feed could weaken the occurrence of side reactions and affect the product distribution, the aromatics yield produced no change though. By inhibiting the dealkylation and disproportionation and isomerization reactions, the decentralized feed decreased the yields of benzene (B) and toluene (T) while increased the xylene (X) yield and PX selectivity in X beyond thermodynamic equilibrium, which is highly expected in industry. With the decentralized feed, the restricted hydrogen transfer reaction increased olefins and C5+ non-aromatics, which could be further converted into aromatics, and reduced unwanted alkanes. Our methodology of process intensification provided insight into product distribution optimization to match large materials flow in terms of PX production in the MTA plant.
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