Catalysis of Organic..

442Sustainable Process Technologywill be given to direct methane conversion technologies that will substantially reducedependence on petroleum and coal. It will also provide substantial reductions inenergy and emissions resulting from the high temperature indirect routes to power,chemicals, and fuels involving synthesis gas. Storage of methane for transport oruse on demand is also a prime target for development in the future. A much moredetailed analysis of the potential for direct conversion approaches to replace indirectand established routes for production and utilization of synthesis gas must becompleted. A hypothetical process is considered below for discussion. At this timeUOP is considering its opportunities in the area of direct conversion of methane tochemicals or fuels.The direct catalytic conversion of methane has been actively pursued for manyyears. Much of the emphasis has been on the direct production of methanol viaselective partial oxidation (8), coupling of methane to ethylene (9), or methanearomatization (10). At this time none of these technologies has been demonstratedcommercially due to low yields of desired products due to combustion by-productsor low equilibrium conversion at reasonable process temperatures and pressures.The potential benefits of a hypothetical process for the direct partial oxidation ofmethane to methanol (11) are presented as an example.According to data from 2001, methanol is consumed at a rate of about 67 billionpounds per year and is the eighth ranked chemical in production value in the UnitedStates. Current energy usage for production is 0.015 MMBTU/lb and nearly 950trillion BTU energy per year consumed globally for methanol production. About 80percent of the methanol is produced from natural gas. Therefore, a more efficientand direct process should result in dramatic energy savings and eliminate substantialamounts of CO 2 emissions. Table 2 lists the benefits of a hypothetical process fordirect methanol production. Assuming a modest methanol yield of 9.5% (10%Table 2. A Cost Comparison between of Methanol Produced by ConventionalTechnology in the Mid/Far-East and a Proposed ProcessConventionalProcess (cents/lb)Hypothetical Methane toMethanol Process (cents/lb)Raw Material Cost 0.74 0.61Catalyst and Chemicals 0.06 0.08Operating Cost 0.52 0.26Tax/overhead 0.50 0.25Depreciation 1.25 0.63Cash Cost 1.82 1.20Total Cost 3.07 1.83conversion and 95% selectivity), it was calculated that raw material costs decreasefrom 0.74 to 0.61 cents/lb, operating costs reduce by 50% (0.52 to 0.26 cents/lb.),and total cost is decreased from 3.06 to 1.83 cents/lb. Additionally, it is estimated