Methyl chloride via oxyhydrochlorination of methane: A building block for chemicals and fuels from natural gas. Quarterly technical progress report No. 01, September 30, 1996--December 31, 1996

The objectives of this cooperative agreement are to develop the oxyhydrochlorination (OHC) process for the conversion of methane to methyl chloride. In the first Phase of the project, Dow Corning has developed a stable selective catalyst and demonstrated the technology on a laboratory and a pilot plant scale. Specific tasks to achieve these objectives have been developed as follows: TASK 1 Fundamental Technical and Economic Evaluation TASK 2 Catalyst Selection Optimization and Characterization Studies TASK 3 Pilot Plant Design TASK 4 Pilot Plant Detailed Engineering, Procurement and Construction TASK 5 Pilot Plant Startup and Operation TASK 6 Pilot Plant Process Optimization TASK 7 Pilot Plant Extended Operation TASK 8 Pilot Plant Economic Evaluation/Scale-up Decision Significant progress has been completed in Task 1 with the objective to complete a fundamental technical and economic evaluation of learning gathered the Phase I effort of this project. A decision to proceed with the project will be made after completion of this Task. A computer model of the reactor system has been developed, which includes heat and mass transfer effects as well as reactions. Model validation is in progress. The Absorber/Stripper technology evaluated and implemented on the Phase I PDU to recover chlorocarbons (including methyl chloride) from reaction products has been scaled to evaluate economics for a commercial scale plant. In a parallel exercise, alternate recovery technologies were investigated for economic evaluation, to assure that the minimum capital option is pursued for the Phase II design. Commercial scale plant equipment and total plant costs are being evaluated using information from the Phase I PDU, reactor modeling and recovery system evaluation to estimate capital and operating costs for a commercial scale OHC unit