CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS MITIGATION POTENTIAL OF AUTO-THERMAL METHANOL SYNTHESIS PROCESS UTILIZING RECUPERATIVE DOUBLEMEMBRANE REACTOR

The study presents an analysis of the auto-thermal methanol synthesis process utilizing doublemembrane reactor configuration as an option for themitigation of CO2 emissions. The objective is to verify the CO2 abatement potential of recuperative double-membrane reactor and its competitiveness incomparison with conventional reactor configuration. To this aim, a steady-state heterogeneous model is developed. The recuperative double-membranereactor (RDMR) consists of two Pd/Ag membranes, one for separation of pure hydrogen from endothermic side and another one for permeation ofhydrogen from recycle side (inner tube) into exothermic side. The proposed model has been used to compare the performance of an RDMR withconventional reactor (CR) at identical process conditions. The simulation results represent enhancement in the CO2 removal rate due to positiveeffect of utilized inner membrane between exothermic and recycle sides in RDMR. The influence of some operating variables is investigatedon CO2 conversion. Therefore, CO2 removal analysis reveals that the CO2 mitigation will be best achieved via auto-thermal methanol synthesis process utilizing the RDMR