Process for converting a carbonaceous material to methane, methanol and/or dimethyl ether using microchannel process technology
AssigneeVelocys, Inc.
InventorsWayne W. Simmons, Robert Dwayne Litt, Terry Mazanec, Anna Lee Tonkovich
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Abstract
This invention relates to a process for converting a carbonaceous material to a desired product comprising methane, methanol and/or dimethyl ether, the process comprising: gasifying the carbonaceous material at a temperature in excess of about 700° C. to form synthesis gas; and flowing the synthesis gas through two or more reaction zones in a microchannel reactor to convert the synthesis gas to the desired product.
Claims79
A process for converting a carbonaceous material to a desired product comprising methane, methanol and/or dimethyl ether, the process comprising:
- (A) gasifying the carbonaceous material at a temperature of at least about 700° C. to form synthesis gas;
- (B)(I) flowing the synthesis gas through a first reaction zone in a microchannel reactor at a first reaction temperature in contact with a first catalyst to form an intermediate product composition, the intermediate product composition comprising synthesis gas and the desired product, the approach to equilibrium for conversion of the synthesis gas in the first reaction zone being at least about 5%, and exchanging heat between the first reaction zone and a heat exchanger;
- and
- (B)(II) flowing the intermediate product composition from the previous step through another reaction zone in the microchannel reactor at another reaction temperature in contact with another catalyst to form the desired product, the approach to equilibrium for conversion of the synthesis gas in the another reaction zone being at least about 5%;
- and
- exchanging heat between the another reaction zone and the heat exchanger.
The process of claim 71 wherein the methanol is converted to one or more olefins in a microchannel reactor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.