Century of Technology Trends in Methanol Synthesis: Any Need for Kinetics Refitting?

Recently, methanol has gained increasing attention thanks to the variety of feedstocks suitable for its production and its low environmental impact granting the molecule a key role in future economic roadmaps as in Olah’s development model. Nowadays, fossil sources are not the exclusive sources to produce syngas: biogas is a promising alternative, leading to less severe operating conditions and smaller plant scales. The most widespread kinetic models for methanol synthesis, namely, the Graaf and the Vanden Bussche–Froment models, will be proven not to be fully adequate in characterizing these conditions. A robust refit is shown to outperform predictions from conventional models and follow recent trends in process operations. The refitted Graaf model is more flexible on the operating conditions and feed compositions, removing also some infeasible discontinuities present in conventional models. The final result is a more generalized and accurate Graaf’s model for methanol synthesis on CZA catalysts.