It was as long ago as 1931 that thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions first designed and constructed a methanol plant. This plant employed a high pressure methanol synthesis process, the syngas feed being generated from coal.
thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions later constructed the first low-pressure (LP) methanol plant using the copper-based catalyst and providing coal as feedstock. The first modern methanol plant - using steam reforming and a low-pressure synthesis process (50 bar) - was designed and supervised by thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions in Romania in 1972/1974. Even at that time, the plant had all the characteristic features of a modern methanol plant, i.e.:
Steam reformer technology
Waste heat recovery system generating 120-bar steam
Low-pressure synthesis loop (50 bar)
Efficient grade AA methanol distillation
Further commercial-scale methanol plants were subsequently engineered for instance in Bahrain (1,250 mtpd) and Libya (2 x 1,250 mtpd).
The first methanol plant using steam reforming and a low-pressure synthesis process (50 bar) was designed and constructed by tkIS in Romania in the early seventies. Even at that time, this plant had all the characteristic features of a modern methanol plant. Since then, eleven plants have been engineered and commissioned or revamped by thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions worldwide.
Since 2015, tkIS is cooperating with German-based GasConTec Servicecs GmbH, a technology-driven company founded by former Lurgi employees, mainly consisting of technology executives and senior experts, each with 30+ years experience in gas technology. tkIS and its strategic alliance partner GasConTec have advanced the methanol technology in order to improve reliability, to reduce investment cost, and to minimize catalyst cost.
Methanol plant Schwarze Pumpe, Germany