Preliminary study of the methanol production process from coal to support the coal downstream program

Abstract

Coal downstreaming is a government program to create a comparative and competitive advantage of coal and its various derivative products. Coal derivative products are expected to be economically competitive with oil and natural gas. One of the coal downstream programs is the production of methanol from coal through the gasification process. The development of the methanol industry will support the government’s program of the transfer from fuel-based oil to biodiesel and will reduce dependence on imports. All types of coal in this study can be used as raw material for the methanol production. The coal with high mositure content ((>40%), prior to the gasification process, a dewatering process is required. The dewatering process chosen is the steam tube drying process, the gasification process with a fixed bed gasifier type, the Davy or Johnson Matthey low pressure methanol synthesis technology and the copper – zinc oxide with aluminum oxide or chromium oxide (Cu – ZnO – Al2O3/Cu – ZnO – Cr2O3) catalyst type.