The present invention relates to a novel process layout for a methanol synthesis loop, which is suitable for large scale methanol production plants, i.e. a production capac ^¬ ity above 1000 MTPD and preferably above 5000 MTPD of meth ^¬ anol . The capacity of methanol plants is constantly increasing to reduce investments, taking advantage of the economy-of- scale. Thus, the capacity of a world scale methanol plant has increased from 2500 MTPD a couple of decades ago to around 5000 MTPD today. Even larger plants are considered to further improve economy and to provide the feedstock for the methanol-to-olefin (MTO) process.

A methanol plant can be divided into three main sections: In the first section of the plant, a feed gas such as natu- ral gas is converted into synthesis gas. The synthesis gas reacts to produce methanol in the second section, and then methanol is purified to the desired purity in the third section in the tail-end of the plant. The capital cost of large scale methanol plants is substan ^¬ tial. The synthesis gas production, including compression and oxygen production when required, may account for 60% or more of the investment. In many plants today, either tubu ^¬ lar steam reforming or two-step reforming is used for the production of synthesis gas. However, stand-alone auto- thermal reforming at a low steam-to-carbon (S/C) ratio is the preferred technology for large scale plants by maximiz ^¬ ing the single-line capacity and minimizing the investment; see for example applicant's WO 2015/128456 Al describing a stand-alone autothermal reformer for use in producing syn- thesis gas, e.g. for methanol production.

Stand-alone autothermal reforming (ATR) is a technology used for the production of synthesis gas in which the con ^¬ version of a hydrocarbon feedstock or the conversion of a partly converted gas from a pre-reforming step into synthe ^¬ sis gas is completed in a single reactor by the combination of partial combustion and adiabatic steam reforming. Combustion of a hydrocarbon feed is carried out with sub-stoi- chiometric amounts of air, enriched air or oxygen by flame reactions in a burner combustion zone. Steam reforming of the partially combusted hydrocarbon feedstock is subse ^¬ quently conducted in a fixed bed steam reforming catalyst.

Stand-alone ATR combines sub-stoichiometric combustion and catalytic steam reforming in one compact refractory-lined reactor to produce synthesis gas for large scale methanol production. The stand-alone ATR operates at a low S/C ra ^¬ tio, thus reducing the flow through the plant and minimizing the investment. The stand-alone ATR produces a synthe- sis gas well suited for production of both fuel grade and high purity methanol; see for example applicant's WO

2013/013895 Al .

The design of the methanol synthesis section is essential. The optimal design and the choice of operating parameters depend on the desired product specification. In many plants, boiling water reactors (BWRs) are used. However, the use or incorporation of adiabatic reactors may be ad ^¬ vantageous .

Methanol is synthesized from synthesis gas (syngas) , which consists of ¾, CO and CO ₂ . The conversion from syngas is performed over a catalyst, which is most often a copper- zinc oxide-alumina catalyst. The methanol synthesis by con ^¬ version from syngas can be formulated as a hydrogenation of carbon dioxide, accompanied by the shift reaction, and it can be summarized by the following reaction sequence com ^¬ prising the reactions:

C0 ₂ + 3H ₂ <-> CH3OH + H ₂ 0

CO + H ₂ 0 <-> C0 ₂ + H ₂

The conversion is, as already mentioned, performed over a copper-zinc oxide-alumina catalyst. Examples of this cata ^¬ lyst include applicant's catalysts MK-121 and MK-151

FENCE™.

Because of the widespread use of methanol, especially as the feedstock for the manufacture of other chemicals, the worldwide methanol production is huge, and methods and plants for large scale production are therefore in high de- mand. However, large methanol plants are subject to the constraints imposed by size limitations on reactors and process equipment. To allow scale-up, the ability to pro ^¬ cess major amounts of synthesis gas in comparatively small pieces of process equipment has become increasingly im- portant. Thus, in Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis 147 , 7-12 (2004) it was demonstrated that this objective could be achieved by combining methanol synthesis technol ^¬ ogy consisting of combined methanol synthesis and condensa ^¬ tion (CMSC) and syngas technology comprising an ATR operat ^¬ ing at a very low S/C ratio.

Countries which are rich in coal and natural gas resources for syngas preparation have devoted much effort to the de ^¬ velopment of large scale methanol production plants. These are largely based on a low pressure methanol synthesis re- actor with uniform temperature described in CN 1847208 A.

In US 2009/0018220 Al to Johnson Matthey PLC, a process for methanol synthesis from a synthesis gas, which is deficient in hydrogen, is disclosed. US 2011/0065966 Al to Lurgi GmbH discloses a process and a plant for producing methanol, where the synthesis gas is passed through a first, prefera ^¬ bly water-cooled reactor, in which a part of the carbon ox ^¬ ides is converted to methanol. Then the obtained mixture is fed to a second, preferably gas-cooled reactor, in which a further part of the carbon oxides is converted to methanol. To achieve a maximum methanol yield even with an aged cata ^¬ lyst, a partial stream of the synthesis gas is bypassed the first reactor and introduced directly into the second reac ^¬ tor .

In US 8.629.191 B2, Lurgi GmbH describes a process and a plant for producing methanol. The synthesis gas is passed through a first, water-cooled reactor in which a part of the carbon oxides is catalytically converted to methanol. The resulting mixture containing synthesis gas and methanol vapor is fed to a second, gas-cooled reactor in which a further part of the carbon oxides is converted to methanol. Subsequently, methanol is separated from the synthesis gas, which is then recycled to the first reactor. The cooling gas flows through the second reactor co-current to the mix ^¬ ture withdrawn from the first reactor.

US 2010/0160694 Al to Johnson Matthey PLC discloses a pro ^¬ cess for methanol production comprising (a) passing a synthesis gas mixture consisting of a loop gas and a make-up gas through a first synthesis reactor containing a methanol synthesis catalyst, said reactor being cooled by boiling water under pressure, to form a mixed gas containing metha ^¬ nol, (b) cooling the mixed gas containing methanol, (c) passing said cooled mixed gas through a second synthesis reactor containing a methanol synthesis catalyst in which further methanol is synthesized to form a product gas stream, (d) cooling said product gas to condense methanol and (e) recovering the methanol and returning unreacted gas as the loop gas to the first synthesis reactor, wherein the mixed gas containing methanol from the first synthesis re- actor is cooled in heat exchange with either said loop gas or said make-up gas.

A large-scale methanol synthesis process is disclosed in CN 103232321 A. In the process, raw material gas first enters a buffering tank, such that partial liquid is removed. Then the gas enters a synthetic gas compressor to be pressurized and subjected to desulfurization in a fine-desulfurization protection bed. The synthetic gas discharged from the fine- desulfurization protection bed is divided into two flows: A first synthetic gas flow is mixed with a second circulation gas flow, heat exchange is carried out, and the mixture en ^¬ ters a first synthesis reactor. After reaction, the high- temperature gas enters a first gas/gas heat exchanger to be subjected to heat exchange with fed gas. Then the gas en ^¬ ters a crude methanol heater for heating crude methanol, the circulation gas is cooled and crude methanol is sepa- rated, such that a first circulation gas flow is formed. The first circulation gas flow is mixed with the second synthetic gas flow, the mixture is pressurized and heated, and enters a second synthesis reactor. High-temperature gas discharged from the second synthesis reactor is cooled and delivered into a second separator; crude methanol is sepa ^¬ rated, and the second circulation gas flow is formed. The scale of the device can reportedly be enlarged to between 2.000.000 and 2.400.000 ton of methanol product per year, and a one-path conversion rate can reach 7-13 percent. CN 105399604 A describes a process for the production of methanol, where a stream of synthesis gas is passed through a compressor and two heat exchangers before being split into two streams, each of which enters a water-cooled meth ^¬ anol reactor. These two methanol reactors are arranged in parallel.

Applicant's US 2015/0175509 Al discloses a process and a reaction system for the preparation of methanol comprising two reaction units, wherein the first unit is operated on a mixture of fresh synthesis gas and unconverted synthesis gas, while the second unit is operated solely with uncon ^¬ verted synthesis gas. The process employs unconverted syn ^¬ thesis gas collected from both the first and the second re ^¬ action unit. Thus the recycle gas to both the first and the second unit can be pressurized and circulated by a common circulator, which makes the pressure loss in the recycle stream considerably lower than in other systems comprising two reaction units, because the two reaction units operate at the same pressure.

Basically the present invention concerns a novel process layout for the methanol synthesis loop, offering a number of advantages over the prior art. More specifically, the invention concerns a process layout for methanol synthesis, comprising one or more boiling water reactors and one or more radial flow reactors in series, wherein the boiling water reactor (s) is/are fed with approximately fresh make- up syngas.

This novel process layout for a methanol synthesis loop ac ^¬ cording to the present invention comprises a make-up gas (MUG) compressor Kl, a recycle gas compressor K2, two or more boiling water converters (BWCs) for methanol synthesis (Al, A2, ..), a radial flow converter (B) for methanol synthesis, a steam drum (VI), a high pressure separator (V2), a low pressure separator (V3) , feed effluent heat exchang ^¬ ers (El and E2), a wash column (C) , an air cooler (E3) and a water cooler (E4) . Preferably, the purge gas is split from the effluent prod ^¬ uct gas as wet gas (including methanol) and washed with wa ^¬ ter to recover methanol at approximately the synthesis loop pressure. The radial flow reactor temperature is preferably controlled by adjusting the purge gas and hence the level of inert gas in the reactor inlet.

In a preferred embodiment, the radial flow reactor has a structure, which requires no cooling device. Furthermore, it is preferred that only one train of cooling equipment is used . In the following, the process layout according to the in ^¬ vention will be described with reference to the appended figure. The synthesis loop layout in the figure consists of make-up gas (MUG) (1), which is pressurized in Kl, mixed with a fraction of recycle gas (2) if it is needed (for ex ^¬ ample during the start-of-run period when the catalysts in the BWRs are extremely active) and pre-heated in El. The pre-heated flow (3) is introduced into the two (or more) BWCs Al, A2.. , from which a product gas (4) is withdrawn and subjected to feed-effluent (F/E) heat exchange in El. The partly cooled stream (5) from the heat exchanger is mixed with the effluent (6) from the radial flow converter B and further cooled in the air cooler E3. The outlet gas (7) from E3 is water cooled in E4, and the resulting two- phase stream (8) is split into two streams, a liquid stream (9) and a gas stream (10), of which the latter is com ^¬ pressed in K2 to a stream (11) .

The pressurized stream (11) is divided into two streams (12 and 2) . Stream 2 is a smaller fraction of stream 11 and might be used if it is needed to control the catalyst peak temperature, and consequently the formation of synthesis by-products in the BWRs. Stream 12 is heat exchanged (pre ^¬ heated) in the feed-effluent (F/E) heat exchanger E2. The pre-heated gas is introduced into the radial flow converter B, resulting in the effluent product gas 13 which is cooled partly in E2 and added (as stream 6) to the inlet gas to E3. A part of the E2 outlet is drawn as purge gas 17. The purge gas is washed with water 21 in the wash column C to remove mainly methanol from the stream. The methanol-free gas 18 is purged and can be used as fuel. The washed product 16 is introduced into the low pressure separator V3 along with the crude methanol stream 9 from the high pressure separator V2. As the separator V3 is operating at a low pressure, gases dissolved in crude metha- nol are released as stream 14. The crude methanol product is sent to a distillation unit for further purification.

The radial flow converter B is an outward radial flow con ^¬ verter with a methanol synthesis catalyst located between the converter shell and the center tube, which is used for gas distribution over the catalyst bed. In this radial flow converter, no cooling device is used. The catalyst tempera ^¬ ture from the synthesis reactions heat is merely controlled by adjusting the purge gas flow, i.e. stream 18. The concentration of inert gases is increased in the converter B inlet by reducing the purge gas flow. Due to insignificant pressure drop in converter B, it is possible to run the synthesis loop with a relatively high recycle flow.

Radial flow converters (RFCs) and boiling water converters (BWCs) are well-known pieces of equipment in the chemical industry. The disclosed synthesis loop configuration uses these well-known unit operations in an innovative way, thereby offering a more effective process for methanol syn ^¬ thesis from syngas.

By using the novel process layout for a methanol synthesis loop according to the present invention, a number of advantages over what was previously known are obtained. The main advantages are that:

- only two BWCs, instead of three or even four BWCs, are needed for a typical 5000 MTPD methanol synthesis loop; - a potentially low CAPEX (capital expenditure, which is the cost of developing or providing non-consumable parts for the product or system) is obtained compared to a stand ^¬ ard synthesis loop with only BWCs; - a high carbon efficiency is seen in the synthesis loop according to the present invention;

- a lower pressure drop is observed across the converters,

- the layout is simple and practical for industrial imple ^¬ mentation and - only one train of cooling and condensation is needed for two set of converters.

The invention is illustrated further by the example which follows .

Example

A natural gas (NG) based methanol synthesis loop according to the invention with a capacity of 5000 MTPD methanol is used. A front-end stand-alone ATR gives a flow of hydrogen enriched (from the hydrogen recovery unit from purge gas) make-up gas (MUG) of 510.000 Nm ³ /h with the following com ^¬ position: 69% H ₂ , 21% CO, 8.5% C0 ₂ , 1% CH ₄ and 0.5% N ₂ .

The total volume of methanol catalyst is 174 m ³ , more spe ^¬ cifically split into 108 m ³ in the two BWCs and 66 m ³ in the RFC. The two BWCs include 11000 tubes in total, each with an inner diameter of 40.3 mm, an outer diameter of 44.5 mm and a length of 7.7 m. In the RFC, the inner diame ^¬ ter of the center tube is 1.0 m, the shell diameter is 3.6 m and the bed height is 7 m.

A synthesis loop operating pressure of 80 kg/cm ² is kept constant from the start-of-run (SOR) to the end-of-run

(EOR) . The BWT (boiling water temperature) is varied from 225°C to 260°C from SOR to EOR.

The catalyst activity loss is assumed to be 60% for the RFC and 65% for the BWCs over an operation time of 4 years.

At the end-of-run (EOR), i.e. after an operation time of 4 years, the stream composition results (in mole%) shown in the following Table 1 were calculated (the stream numbers (S. no) refer to the Figure) :

Table 1

Stream compositions after 4 years of operation

S . no CO co ₂ N ₂ CH ₄ MeOH H ₂ 0

1 69.0 21 8.5 0.5 1 0 0

3 66.9 11.3 5.8 5.5 10.2 0.25 0.02

4 61.4 6.9 5.6 6.3 11.6 7.2 1

10 65.7 5.6 4.1 8.6 15.6 0.4 0.03

13 63.5 4.8 3.4 8.9 16.1 2.3 0.9

18 65.1 4.9 3.5 9.2 16.6 0 0.7 The product stream 15 from the low pressure separator V3 consisted of 85.7 weight percent crude methanol (corre ^¬ sponding to 5009 MTPD pure methanol) . The stream 15 con ^¬ tained 1120 ppmw ethanol and 9 ppm methyl ethyl ketone. The flow (f) of the individual streams (S) is indicated in Table 2.

Table 2

Flow of individual streams*

Upper row: Stream no., lower row: Flow (x 1000 Nm ³ /h)

The power and duty of respectively compressors and heat ex ^¬ changers used in this production unit are listed as fol ^¬ lows :

Compressors

Kl: 39.7 MWe K2 : 12.5 MWe (both 65% efficiency)

Heat exchangers

El: 75 MW E2 : 256 MW E3: 143 MW E4: 50 MW The synthesis loop carbon efficiency drops slightly from 98.6% at SOR to 97% at EOR (after 4 years of operation). The pressure drop of the catalyst beds in RFC and BWCs in ^¬ crease from 0.1 and 0.9 bar to 0.3 and 1.8 bar, respec- tively.