Methanol Synthesis with Steel Mill Gases: Performance Investigations in an On‐Site Technical Center

Abstract

An on‐site laboratory with direct access to cleaned and conditioned steel mill gases was recently put into operation. The long‐term performance and stability of Clariant's MegaMax®800 methanol synthesis catalyst utilizing steel mill gases is currently being investigated. First test results revealed that in order to investigate deactivation mechanisms arising from particular properties of the cleaned steel mill gases, the overlaying effect of thermal deactivation of the catalyst has to be minimized.

Practical Aspects of Converting Steel Mill Gases to Chemical Feedstocks

“…Taking the example of ammonia synthesis as the proof of concept, it has been shown that the synthesis gas contains no residual contaminants which suppress catalytic activity or irreversibly poison the catalyst. Similar results were obtained in the case of methanol synthesis [8]. It could be clearly demonstrated that the purification and conditioning of steel mill gases can be achieved using proven and reliable process units, such as adsorption, hydrolysis, and catalytic conversion.…”

Ga and Zn increase the oxygen affinity of Cu-based catalysts for the COx hydrogenation according to ab initio atomistic thermodynamics

“…This has led to the development of several processes towards large-scale application. [55][56][57][58][59] Nevertheless, hydrogenation with CO 2 -rich feeds usually suffers from product inhibition, reducing the overall activity of the catalyst. 60 Furthermore, low methanol selectivity is also observed in the low pressure range due to the competing RWGS-reaction.…”

Catalytic Hydrogenation of CO2 to Methanol over Cu/MgO Catalysts in a Semi-Continuous Reactor

“…Girod et al [47] reported in a recent study with steel mill gases and Clariant's MegaMax ® 800 (thyssenkrupp Steel Europe site in Duisburg, Germany) catalyst the feasibility of methanol synthesis based on H 2 -enriched blast furnace gases. However, pronounced catalyst deactivation was observed, highlighting the need for further investigation of trace compounds in the cleaned steel mill gas streams and their possible deactivating effects on the catalyst.…”

“…Reference tests with various synthetic gas compositions also showed catalyst deactivation within the first 100 h under kinetically controlled reaction conditions. Raising the temperature and thereby changing into thermodynamically controlled reaction conditions resulted in constant methanol equilibrium concentration in the product stream without any indication of catalyst deactivation [47].…”