You are on page 1of 4

Special Report

PRODUCT FOCUS

Methanol An update on the Indian scenario

IntroductIon ethanol (CH3OH), also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirit, is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol (drinking alcohol). At room temperature, it is a polar liquid, and is used as an antifreeze, solvent, fuel and as a denaturant for ethanol. The main applications for methanol are formaldehyde (used in construction and wooden boarding), acetic acid, MTBE (fuel component) and more recently as an ester group in the production of bio-diesel. Globally, the demand is expected to grow exponentially, not only caused by a growing internal market of the traditional applications, but accelerated by new applications, such as direct blending (with gasoline), methanol-to-olefins (MTO) (e.g. propylene) and dimethyl ether (DME). Methanol can also be used to produce gasoline. The use of methanol as a motor fuel received attention during the oil crises of the 1970s due to its availability, low

cost and environmental benefits. By the mid-1990s, over 20,000 methanol flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), capable of operating on methanol or gasoline, were introduced in the US. In addition, low levels of methanol were blended in gasoline fuels sold in Europe during much of the 1980s and early-1990s. Automakers stopped building methanol FFVs by the late-1990s, switching their attention to ethanol-fueled vehicles. While the methanol FFV program was a technical success, rising methanol pricing in the mid- to late-1990s during a period of slumping gasoline pump prices diminished the interest in methanol fuels. Additionally, methanol is highly corrosive to rubber and many synthetic polymers used in the automotive industry, whereas ethanol is not.

Manufacturing process From the early 1800s until the mid1920s, the distillation of wood to make wood alcohol was the major source of methanol. According to some statistics, methanol production reached 30,000-tonnes in 1923, consuming some 3-mt of wood feedstock. However, this inefficient method of methanol production was quickly replaced by large scale processes based on hydrogen-carbon oxide mixtures introduced in the 1920s. A major breakthrough came in the early 1970s with the development of low pressure processes replacing the high pressure route. Today, nearly all production is based on these processes consuming natural gas, naphtha or refinery light gas, with a shift in production to those countries with low cost natural gas. Synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, is first produced in a reformer. This is carried out by passing a mixture of the hydrocarbon feedstock and steam through a heated tubular reformer. The ratio of hydrogen and carbon in the syngas may need to be adjusted by purgtable 2 trends in production of methanol Year Production [tonnes] 2004-05 392,200 2005-06 386,760 2006-07 396,230 2007-08 351,730 2008-09 237,660 2009-10 333,260 2010-11 383,650
Source: Ministry of Chemicals

table 1 capacity for methanol in India units Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers Ltd. Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Ltd. Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers Ltd. Assam Petrochemicals Ltd. National Fertilisers Ltd. total
Chemical Weekly November 15, 2011

Location Gujarat Maharashtra Maharashtra Assam Punjab

capacity [tpa] 238,100 100,000 72,600 33,000 22,110 465,810

Share [%] 51.11 21.46 15.58 7.11 4.74 100.00

199

Special Report
table 3 unitwise production and sales of methanol Production Sales units 2009-10 2010-11 2009-10 Gujarat Narmada Valley 187,079 202,544 111,511 Fertilisers Ltd. Deepak Fertilisers & 65,647 81,888 65,703 Petrochemicals Ltd. Rashtriya Chemicals & 44,103 68,700 19,746 Fertilisers Ltd. Assam Petrochemicals Ltd. 33,759 30,000 15,040 National Fertilisers Ltd. 2,669 516 131 total 333,257 383,648 212,131 ing excess hydrogen or adding carbon dioxide. Developments here include the use of autothermal reforming, either alone or in combination with a primary reformer, in which oxygen is mixed with the steam.

2010-11 126,059 81,708 41,264 15,000 44 264,075

Years 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11


Source: DGCI&S

table 4 trends in imports and exports of methanol Imports Exports Quantity Value Quantity Value [tons] [rs. Mn] [tons] [rs. Mn] 527,287 9,578 1,233 73 788,815 1,058,865 822,247 813,421 11,243 12,578 8,994 10,354 31,743 3,264 45,902 40,227 1373 85 643 876 The syngas is cooled and then compressed before being fed to the methanol converter. The methanol synthesis takes place in the presence of copperbased catalysts at 250-260C. The crude methanol is recovered and purified by distillation. Air Products has developed a liquid phase methanol converter, which uses a slurry of copper catalyst in an inert paraffinic liquid. A demonstration plant has been integrated into Eastman Chemicals coal gasification facility at Kingsport, Tennessee, where it obtains its syngas feedstock. Plant designers are developing very large capacity plants in the 500010,000-tpd (tonnes per day) range that could produce low-cost methanol for fuel uses and light olefins production when based on inexpensive natural gas. Two approaches are being taken: some are pursuing pure oxygen addition resulting in total autothermal reforming; others are taking the non-oxygen route with compact reforming and low pressure methanol synthesis.
Chemical Weekly November 15, 2011

country Saudi Arabia Iran Oman Libya Malaysia Cote divoire China Singapore Russia South Africa Qatar UAE USA Germany Others total
Source: DGCI&S

table 5 Imports of methanol by source country Quantity [tonnes] Values [rs. Mn] 2009-10 2010-11 2009-10 2010-11 384,199 416,287 4,197.65 5,330.93 305,910 271,951 3,503.80 3,370.51 114,234 91,336 1,094.49 1,143.67 0 9,441 0.00 150.61 5,004 5,023 46.82 57.81 0 5,000 0.00 80.59 120 4,233 9.76 53.95 0 3,439 0.00 46.71 0 2,500 0.00 40.09 2,783 1,882 16.99 14.52 5,499 980 46.41 10.02 2,196 549 21.08 8.84 118 399 11.07 21.42 139 190 20.19 19.19 2,046 214 25.88 5.05 822,248 813,424 8,994.14 10,353.91

200

Special Report
table 6 Apparent consumption of methanol in India Year 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 Production 396,230 351,730 237,660 333,260 383,650 Imports 527,280 788,820 1,058,860 822,250 813,420 Exports 1,230 31,740 3,260 45,900 40,230 liser Company (GNFC) in Bharuch (Gujarat) is the biggest player with 51% of the total capacity, followed by Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Ltd. (DFPCL) with 21% and Assam Petrochemicals Ltd. (APL) with 7 per cent. The production of methanol in 2010-11 was 383,000-tonnes indicating a capacity utilization of 82%. In fact, local production of methanol over the period of last seven years has been hovering between 350,000-tonnes to 390,000-tonnes. During 2008-09, however, production was even lower at 237,000-tonnes. Import and export Due to the local demand exceeding supply, India has to depend on imports to meet its requirements. Imports, in fact, constitute around 70% of total consumption.
2006-07 Production 2007-08 2008-09 Imports 2009-10 2010-11

[tonnes] consumption 922,280 1,108,810 1,293,260 1,109,610 1,156,840

1,400 Kilotonnes 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0

consumption

Production, imports & consumption of methanol in India

Imports have grown from 527,000-tonnes in 2006-07 to 813,000-tonnes in 2010-11, registering a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.45% during the last five years. In 2008-09, imports were significantly higher at 1.058-mt, due to lower domestic production. 95% of the imports are being sourced from three countries: Saudi Arab (51%), Iran (33%) and Oman (11%). Small quantities of methanol are also exported from India. Exports are in the region of 40,000-tonnes to 45,000-tonnes, constituting only around 3-3.5% of total consumption. consumption and consumption pattern Consumption of methanol in India has grown from 922,000-tonnes
201

table 7 Methanol consumption pattern and growth uses Formaldehyde Pharmaceuticals Oxygenates Acetic acid Alkyl amines Dimethyl sulphate Agrochemicals Chloromethanes Solvents/others total Share [%] 48 21 9 5 4 3 3 4 3 100 Growth rate [%] 7 8.5 4 9 8 5 8 8 6

The Dutch-based biomethanol producer BioMCN has developed a process to make biomethanol from glycerine, a by-product in biodiesel production. the status of the Indian industry There are five producers of methanol in India with a total capacity of 465,810-tpa. Much of this capacity (88%) is in the western region, with less than 5% in the northern region and 7% in the eastern region. Gujarat Narmada Ferti-

Chemical Weekly November 15, 2011

Special Report
table 8 Some drugs and intermediates that use methanol drug/Intermediate Albendazole Amoxycillin trihydrate Cefadroxil Cefalexin monohydrate Chloramphenicol Diloxamide furoate Dilitiazem HCl DL-Naproxen Domoperidone Enrofloxacin Ethambutol HCl Fenbendazole Isoniazid Isoxamine Mebendazole Methyl dopa Methanol requirement 12 1.5 2.41 0.5 0.8 1.2 4.62 6 15.75 1.25 0.85 17.5 1 4.34 1.5 2.5 drug/Intermediate Naproxen sodium Nordion Omeprazole Phenylbutazone Pseudoephedrine base Pyrozinamide Sulphamethoxazole Terfenadine Trimethoprim CMIC chloride 7-ADCA 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoic acid methyl ester D(+) Acid DICMIC chloride Glycine N-Methly-4-piperidinol Methanol requirement 1.16 5.58 5.08 3 2.9 2.71 2 5 1.15 3.94 3.12 1.34 5 3.94 0.25 1.5 in making a number of formulations. India has a large pharmaceuticals industry that is growing at over 11% per annum. Future demand Demand for methanol five years hence is projected to grow to 1.55-mt, at an average growth rate of 6% per annum. The demand does not take into account the potential demand that may arise from the biodiesel and fuel blending sectors. In the case of biodiesel, a National Mission has been initiated based on jatropha/ non-food plantations on waste lands and the first crops are expected after 1-2 years. Current capacities for biodiesel, using crude palm oil (CPO) as the main raw material are small and the production is slated for exports. The potential demand for methanol from this sector after about years could be as as 0.13-mt annually, based on blending.

Methanol requirement is in kgs per 1-kg of the drug/intermediate

in 2006-07 to 1.156-mt in 2010-11, registering a CARG of 5.8%. Formaldehyde and pharmaceuticals (bulk drugs and intermediates) are the two important end-use segments, which together account for 67% of the total methanol consumed in the country. While formaldehyde alone accounts for 48%, the pharma sector accounts for 19%. The balance is shared between oxygenates, alkylamines, acetic acid, chloromethanes and other uses. The formaldehyde market is highly fragmented in India with 24 medium-sized producers and several small producers spread across the country. The total consumption of methanol by this end-use is 555,000-tonnes. Demand for formal202

dehyde is estimated at 1.235-mt, growing at around 7% per annum. The major growth drivers for formaldehyde markets are: growth of resins industry driven by growth in wood panels; strong growth in construction and housing industry; and growth in chemical intermediates. The next important end-use sector is the pharmaceuticals industry, where methanol is used in making bulk drugs and intermediates, as well as a solvent

high 10%

In the case of gasoline blending with methanol, there is no policy on the horizon, and the focus, as pointed out earlier, is on ethanol blending. However, a potential demand based on blending 20% of gasoline output with 15% of methanol could be around 0.5-mt annually. With no new capacities announced, and none expected due to low cost natural gas based methanol available in the country, India will have to continue depending heavily on imports. There is a need for world scale plant-based on low cost natural gas availability, or on alternate low value hydrocarbons such as petroleum coke gasification.
Chemical Weekly November 15, 2011

You might also like