Methanol production possibilities in kraft pulp mill

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School of Chemical Engineering | Master's thesis
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Date

2011

Department

Kemian laitos

Major/Subject

Tehdassuunnittelu

Mcode

Kem-107

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

120 s. + liitt. 6

Series

Abstract

The thesis work was done to explore the opportunity of producing methanol from extracted lignin and black liquor without disturbing the energy balance of the pulp mill. Material and energy balance of the main operations of pulp mill were studied. After literature survey processes were developed to convert either black liquor or lignin extracted from black liquor to methanol. Black liquor or lignin were gasified and converted to syngas while pulping chemicals are recycled to the pulp mill. Syngas after H<sub>2</sub>/CO molar ratio adjustment and cleaning was fed to methanol conversion reactor. Pure methanol was obtained from the distillation column after the removal of impurities. Two simulation software namely Balas and Pro II were used in this thesis work. Balas was used to estimate the generation of steam and electricity from recovery boiler and bark boiler. PRO II was mainly used in simulating the process unit operations. Material and energy balance of methanol production from both routes were calculated from the data generated by PRO II. Investment and product costs were estimated for both the processes. Total investment cost for methanol produced from lignin was estimated to be 40 M&#128 based on annual methanol production of 16934 ton and the manufacturing cost of the product methanol obtained by this route was 1064 &#128/ton. Whereas total investment cost for methanol generated by black liquor gasification route was estimated to be 590 M&#128 based on annual methanol production of 362880 ton with product methanol cost of 443 &#128/ton. The production cost of methanol from lignin gasification is thrice than market price due to low production capacity and methanol generated by black liquor gasification is 1.5 times more expensive than market price. Black liquor gasification has a problem of material corrosion due to presence of highly corrosive compounds which is not the case with pure lignin gasification.

Description

Supervisor

Koskinen, Jukka

Thesis advisor

Manninen, Jussi
Harlin, Ali

Keywords

methanol, black liquor, lignin, costing

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Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-2020122358592

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[dipl] Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu / CHEM