METHOD OF PROCESSING NATURAL GAS TO PRODUCE METHANOL Russian patent published in 1998 - IPC

FIELD: natural gas processing. SUBSTANCE: in a method comprising recovery of pressurized gas, heating, desulfurization, catalytic steam conversion to produce converted gas, heat utilization, compression of gas, synthesis of methanol with non-reacted gas circulation, cooling of gas in air-cooling apparatus and then in return-water cooler, and separation of condensed methanol, distinguishing feature consists in that, original natural gas under pressure 30-45 atm is divided into two streams in proportion (75-85):(25-15), the first one, main process stream, is heated to 80 C in tube space of high-pressure recovery heat exchanger utilizing heat of circulation gas at temperature 105-110 C, and the second stream, when expanded and heated in methanol preheater to 50-60 C, is used as fuel gas. EFFECT: increased economical efficiency. 1 dwg