Liquid-Phase Methanol Synthesis: Catalysts, Mechanism, Kinetics, Chemical Equilibria, Vapor-Liquid Equilibria, and Modeling—A Review

Abstract Methanol is one of the basic chemicals which is manufactured at an annual rate of over 10 million tons. Plant capacity for methanol rises and can be greatly increased eventually when using methanol as a fuel. One of the potential future uses of methanol is as a peaking fuel in coal gasification combined cycle power stations (e.g., in integrated gasification combined cycle, IGCC). In this application, methanol would be produced from the CO-rich gas during periods of low power demand. This methanol would be burned, if necessary, as an auxiliary fuel in combined-cycles gas turbines during periods of peak power demand. Methanol is a clean-burning fuel with versatile applications. As a combustion fuel, it provides extremely low emissions. Methanol can also be used as a primary transportation fuel or a fuel additive.