Metallgesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft

Hagen Krumm

Heinz Jockel

Emil Supp

Friedemann Marschner

Friedrich W Moller

Hans J Renner

Klaus Von Walter

Kurt Restin

Robert Kuhn

A reducing gas containing essentially carbon monoxide and hydrogen and only small amounts of water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane is produced by reacting a normally liquid, volatile hydrocarbon with water vapor in two stages under superatmospheric pressure in the presence of nickel-containing catalysts. The improvement of the invention involves adding from 0.02 to 0.1 standard cubic meter of hydrogen per kilogram hydrocarbon to the hydrocarbons to be gasified, subjecting the resulting mixture to a hydrogenation desulfurization and, after adding up to 1.6 kilogram water vapor per kilogram hydrocarbon, reacting said mixture in a one-part first gasification stage at temperatures of 350.degree.-550.degree. C. in the presence of a catalyst containing from 35-70% by weight nickel on a magnesium-containing support thereby producing a high-methane gas which is reacted further in a second stage at temperatures above 850.degree. C. in contact with an indirectly heated heat resistant nickel catalyst.

Process of producing a reducing gas

In the production of methanol from gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons having a higher C/H ratio than is stoichiometrically required to produce methanol, wherein said hydrocarbons are catalytically cracked in the presence of water vapor and at a temperature of about 350.degree.-950.degree. C. and under a pressure of about 5-30 bars to produce a synthesis gas containing hydrogen and oxides of carbon, followed by a catalytic reaction of the hydrogen with the oxides of carbon at a temperature of about 230.degree.-280.degree. C. and under a pressure of about 30-150 bars to produce methanol, the improvement which comprises treating the methanol synthesis exhaust gas so as to remove therefrom carbonaceous gaseous constituents so that the residual gas is high in hydrogen, and adding said high-hydrogen residual gas to the hydrocarbons prior to cracking in an amount such that the C/H ratio of the material to be cracked is up to about 5.7, thereby reducing the energy consumption per unit of methanol produced. Advantageously, the cracking of said hydrocarbons is effected in two stages, the carbonaceous gaseous constituents removed from the methanol synthesis exhaust gas being used for indirect heating of the second cracking stage. The removal of the carbonaceous gaseous constituents from the methanol synthesis exhaust gas is effected by contacting such exhaust gas with a molecular sieve, at least part of the high-hydrogen residual gas being added to the hydrocarbons before the second stage, the mixture of hydrocarbons and high-hydrogen residual gas being treated to effect hydrogenation and desulfurization of the hydrocarbons.

Process of producing methanol

Heat is supplied to chemical reactions, especially reactions involving the cracking of hydrocarbons for producing gas, by the combustion of fuels with heated combustion air followed by a heat exchange extraction of sensible heat from the flue gases produced by the combustion for heating air for the combustion. The hot reaction product is at least partly air cooled and the resulting heated cooling air is passed at least partly through the air preheater before the air is used as heated combustion air.

Process for supplying heat to chemical reactions

Growing community of inventors

Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Hagen Krumm