Optimization of methanol synthesis under forced periodic operation in isothermal fixed-bed reactors

Abstract

Methanol is usually produced in large amounts in fixed-bed reactors under steady-state conditions using Cu/ZnO/Al2O3-catalyst. In this paper, possible improvements through forced periodic operation compared to optimal steady-state solution are investigated. The numerical study is done with a simplified model which describes a hypothetical 7-meter-long isothermal and isobaric fixed-bed reactor. The forced periodic operation is implemented using harmonic forcing and square-waves. Multi-objective optimization is performed for different operating conditions quantifying the achievable molar flow rate of methanol at the reactor outlet and the yield of methanol based on total carbon. The resulting PDE-constrained optimization problems are solved using a simultaneous approach, with orthogonal collocation as discretization. The results show most significant improvements through forced periodic operation with square-waves. The periodic operation can provide theoretical improvements of up to 50% for the methanol mean outlet molar flow rate and improvements of up to 10% for the yield based on total carbon.