Modelling Heat and Mass Transfer in Microreactor for Methanol to Hydrocarbons

P. A. Delou [1,3], V. Degirmenci [2,3],
[1] Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
[2] University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
[3] Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
Published in 2015

Recently, increasing availability of natural gas, due to the shale gas, raises the attention to the conversion of methane. Methanol-to-Hydrocarbons reaction (MTH) plays an important role in this route where methanol synthesized through syngas is converted into hydrocarbons, such as Gasoline. In this study heat and mass transfer for MTH reaction over ZSM-5 as catalyst for an specific microreactor is investigated. The results pointed the appropriate initial concentration required to achieve the maximum conversion to Gasoline. In addition, it proved that the process is suitable to changing the final product to Light Olefins. Finally, the uniform temperature profile clarifies the unnecessity of a heat transfer jacket for the microreactor.