Integrated process for the production of methanol and methyl acetate

摘要

Integrated process for the production of methyl acetate and methanol by carbonylating dimethyl ether with synthesis gas, recovering a methyl acetate stream and an unreached synthesis gas stream containing methyl acetate, and scrubbing the synthesis gas to remove methyl acetate. The scrubbed synthesis gas is passed for methanol synthesis.

主权项

1. An integrated process for the production of methyl acetate and methanol which process comprises:
(i) feeding synthesis gas and dimethyl ether into a carbonylation reaction zone and reacting therein the synthesis gas and dimethyl ether in the presence of a carbonylation catalyst to form a gaseous carbonylation reaction product comprising methyl acetate and synthesis gas enriched in hydrogen relative to the hydrogen content of the feed synthesis gas and wherein the carbonylation catalyst is an aluminosilicate zeolite which comprises at least one channel which is defined by an 8-membered ring; (ii) withdrawing carbonylation reaction product from the carbonylation reaction zone and recovering therefrom a methyl acetate-rich liquid stream and a synthesis gas stream comprising residual amounts of methyl acetate; and wherein the synthesis gas is split into a major portion and a minor portion; (iii) scrubbing in a scrubbing zone the minor portion of the synthesis gas recovered from the carbonylation reaction product with a liquid scrubbing solvent to reduce the content of the methyl acetate in the synthesis gas and to obtain a scrubbed synthesis gas depleted in methyl acetate and a liquid solvent stream comprising methyl acetate; (iv) passing scrubbed synthesis gas to a methanol synthesis zone and contacting it therein with a methanol synthesis catalyst to form a methanol synthesis product comprising methanol and unconverted synthesis gas; and wherein the major portion of the synthesis gas recovered from the carbonylation reaction product is recycled to the carbonylation reaction zone.