Energy saving strategies for plate reactors in mega methanol plants: a CFD study

Fouzieh Hajizadeh; Azadeh Mirvakili; Ahmad Jamekhorshid; Nahid Raiszadeh

doi:10.1515/ijcre-2024-0152

Article

Energy saving strategies for plate reactors in mega methanol plants: a CFD study

Fouzieh Hajizadeh , Azadeh Mirvakili , Ahmad Jamekhorshid and Nahid Raiszadeh

Published/Copyright: April 11, 2025

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From the journal International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering Volume 23 Issue 1

Abstract

One of the disadvantages of methanol synthesis water-cooled quasi-isothermal reactors is the high energy consumption to produce saturated steam. This study proposes two novel configurations for plate exchanger methanol synthesis reactors with axial-radial flow to minimize energy consumption and maximize methanol production. These configurations are compared via three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics. There are two sets of plates in the plate reactors to cool the gas in the reactor’s shell, which are named inner and outer plates. In novel configuration 1 (NC1), the outer plates are omitted, the first radial part has been considered an adiabatic bed, and the second quasi-isothermal. In novel configuration 2 (NC2), the fresh feed stream has been passed through outer plates for preheating rather than using saturated steam. The benefit of these configurations are reduction of water consumption by 50 % and also energy saving for steam generation. Moreover, methanol production is raised by 3 % in NC1 rather than in conventional configuration. Also, preheating of inlet feed in NC2 leads to an increase of 2 % in methanol. The superior configuration is NC2, although, in NC1, methanol production is higher; also, some hot spot points would have emerged in the middle of the reactor.

Keywords: axial-radial flow; industrial reactor; adiabatic beds; quasi-isothermal beds; CFD

Corresponding authors: Azadeh Mirvakili and Ahmad Jamekhorshid, Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Petroleum, Gas, and Petrochemical Engineering, Persian Gulf University, 75169-13817, Bushehr, Iran, E-mail: mirvakili@pgu.ac.ir (A. Mirvakili), jamekhorshid@pgu.ac.ir (A. Jamekhorshid)

Research ethics: Not applicable.
Informed consent: Not applicable.
Author contributions: The authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
Research funding: None declared.
Data availability: The raw data can be obtained on request from the corresponding author.

Nomenclature

T: Temperature K
t: Time s
P: Pressure Pa
c p: Specific heat capacity J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹
ρ: Density Kg m⁻³
E: Energy kJ kmol⁻¹
K: Thermal conductivity W m⁻¹ k⁻¹
μ: Viscosity kg m⁻¹s⁻¹
H: Enthalpy J
∆H: Enthalpy change J
τ: Shear stress N/m⁻²
q: Flux W
h: Heat transfer coefficient W/m⁻²k⁻¹
x _j: Molar fraction of each component i
δ _ij: Kronecker river function
u: Speed m/s⁻¹
ΔH _r: Heat of reaction kJ/mol
J: Diffusion mass flux kg s⁻¹ m⁻²

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Received: 2024-07-25

Accepted: 2025-02-17

Published Online: 2025-04-11

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/ijcre-2024-0152

Keywords for this article

axial-radial flow; industrial reactor; adiabatic beds; quasi-isothermal beds; CFD