DEVELOPMENT OF A PROCESS FOR HIGHER ALCOHOL PRODUCTION VIA SYNTHESIS GAS

This paper reports work at the laboratory and pilot scale concerning t he design of a process for the production of valuable higher oxygenate s from synthesis gas. The performance of a Snamprogetti high-temperatu re catalyst for the synthesis of methanol and higher alcohols was exte nsively studied, and a lumped kinetic model was developed; this accoun ts for the product distribution over the range of interest of temperat ure, pressure, and space velocity and includes the effect of synthesis gas composition. The model was applied to the preliminary simulation of a multistage adiabatic reactor. A single-stage adiabatic pilot reac tor was then realized and operated. It was verified that higher alcoho l synthesis can be carried out without the risk of uncontrollable heat buildup by properly tuning the amount of methanol in the feed stream.