Kinetic Modeling and Techno-Economic Analysis of a Methanol-to-Gasoline Production Repurposed Refinery Equipment

Abstract

Methanol-to-gasoline (MtG) is an alternative process for the production of liquid fuel that involves the conversion of methanol into light and heavy hydrocarbons. The attractiveness of this option relies on multiple feedstocks that can be used to produce methanol, which can impact the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere in comparison to petroleum-based feedstocks. However, one of the challenges of this alternative gasoline production is its high investment cost. This study presents a solution to increase affordability by using repurposed equipment from petrochemical industries. The study employs three modeling techniques, i.e., kinetic modeling, process modeling, and techno-economic analysis. First, a lumped MtG kinetic mechanism using an hierarchical zeolite socony mobil-5 (HZSM-5) catalyst was developed and validated against the literature data to enable high-accuracy process modeling and optimization. Then, the kinetics were implemented in Aspen Plus V12 for process simulations of the fixed-bed MtG, optimization of the operating conditions, and heat integration to increase energy efficiency. Lastly, a techno-economic analysis (TEA) gives the levelized cost of the e-gasoline along with the sensitivity analysis to demonstrate the variables that mainly affect the cost. The TEA showed a price for the e-gasoline with a gray methanol feedstock of 1.82 USD/L, which is comparable with the current average retail gasoline price (1.29 USD/L). Additionally, increasing the capacity by 161 times can reduce the levelized price of e-gasoline to 0.761 USD/L.