Thermal analysis of methanol production from low grade coal of Thar coalfield: an alternate route to utilise indigenous coal efficiently

Abstract

In this paper, we developed an integrated model of coal gasification with methanol synthesis reactor using Aspen Plus®. Gasification process and methanol synthesis are modelled and simulated based on low grade coal of Thar coalfield. After validation of the simulation results with experimental data, the thermodynamic analysis of integrated process is carried out to predict the optimal methanol yield. Moreover, the influence of reactor operating temperature and pressure, CO2/H2 ratio and amount of catalyst, on the methanol synthesis is investigated. The results indicated that for coal input feed of 60 kg/s, the syngas flow rate of 9.4 kg/s was obtained in the gasification section. Whereas, the optimal methanol yield of 23.8% and 28.2% are obtained for Vanden Bussche (VB) and Graaf model, respectively in methanol synthesis reactor. Furthermore, the optimal operating temperature in methanol reactor was 210°C and 240°C for Graaf model and VB model, respectively.