MaximaLabs

Methanol synthesis, from real syngas equilibrium

Syngas reacted to methanol at temperature-corrected chemical equilibrium, degassed in two stages, and distilled to methanol and water.

Temperature-corrected Keq(T) equilibriumTwo-stage degassing before the atmospheric columnFrom the ChemSep casebook (Methanol_iecr49p6150)
Syngas (CO/H2)
Converter
Cooler
HP separator
Purge gas
Letdown valve
Degassing flash
Degas vapor
Atmospheric column
Methanol
Water

The actual dark-mode canvas: syngas reacted to methanol, degassed in two stages to keep the column feed genuinely light on dissolved permanent gas, then distilled to methanol and water — the same P&ID symbols you edit in the app.

Why the degassing stages matter

The high-pressure separator's crude liquid still carries several mol% dissolved CO2/H2/CO — feeding that directly to the column can mislead a bubble-point search onto a spurious low-temperature root nowhere near methanol/water's real ~340 K bubble point, so the letdown-plus-flash degassing genuinely earns the column's clean convergence.

CO+2H2CH3OH,Keq(T)=Keq,refexp ⁣[ΔHrxnR(1T1Tref)]\text{CO} + 2\text{H}_2 \rightleftharpoons \text{CH}_3\text{OH}, \quad K_{eq}(T) = K_{eq,ref}\exp\!\left[-\frac{\Delta H_{rxn}}{R}\left(\frac{1}{T} - \frac{1}{T_{ref}}\right)\right]
Two-stage degassing: letdown + flash strips dissolved CO/H2/CO2 before the column feed\text{Two-stage degassing: letdown + flash strips dissolved CO/H}_2\text{/CO}_2 \text{ before the column feed}
Ln1+Vn+1+Fn=Ln+Vn,yi,n=Ki,nxi,nL_{n-1} + V_{n+1} + F_n = L_n + V_n, \qquad y_{i,n} = K_{i,n}\,x_{i,n}

Unit ops shipped for this vertical

Equilibrium reactor

Reaction extent set by chemical equilibrium Keq(T), not a fixed conversion.

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Heater / cooler

Duty- or outlet-condition-specified energy-balance stage.

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Flash drum

Single-stage vapor-liquid equilibrium split at a fixed temperature/pressure.

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Throttle valve

Isenthalpic Joule-Thomson expansion — the same relation cryogenic JT liquefaction relies on.

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Distillation column

Wang-Henke MESH column solver — the same rigorous solve at any scale.

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Live plant integration

Stream converter conversion, HP separator pressure, and column reflux from your loop's OPC-UA server into this flowsheet's twin comparison — deviations from the solved equilibrium are flagged automatically.

See the Digital Twin platform →

Try it yourself

  • Temperature-corrected Keq(T) equilibrium
  • Two-stage degassing before the atmospheric column
  • From the ChemSep casebook (Methanol_iecr49p6150)

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