Preliminary economic analysis

-What are the key variables controlling process?

-How much profit can you make by selling methanol?

-How can you maximize the profit?

-Is this an attractive economic opportunity for your company?

   

Methanol Production The accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has created significant environmental challenges for the world. A range of technologies are being developed for carbon capture, including direct air capture (DAC) in which the CO2 is removed directly from air. Although the captured CO2 can be sequestered underground, a better option is to convert the carbon dioxide into higher value products. Our company is interested in developing a production facility for the manufacture of methanol from the reaction of carbon dioxide with hydrogen: CO2+3 H2CH3OH + H2O A possible process flow diagram for production of methanol is shown below: Recycle Purge Methanol N+ H H CSTR CO (+ N) Liquids (CH3OH + H2O) Water The CO2 feed contains a small amount of nitrogen (from the air) as a process impurity; the nitrogen is not involved in the chemical reaction. The first column recovers all of the gases in the distillate (pure N2 and H2 and CO2). The purge stream is used to control the N2 concentration in the reactor (which must be kept below 20% by moles). Note that the recycle stream contains H2 and CO2 in addition to the N2. The second separator is a distillation column that is designed to separate the methanol and water - the methanol product should be at least 98% pure methanol.