Investigation of the effects of purge gas recycling for increasing methanol production and carbon dioxide reduction on the environment using dynamic simulation

Nowadays, not only development but also survival requires energy. In today’s world, this energy is supplied through various carriers such as oil, gas, electricity, and renewable energy. Due to the increasing expansion of urban communities and the expansion of industry and industrial life, the issue of environmental pollution and excessive increase in greenhouse gases has become one of the major problems of communities. Half of all carbon dioxide emissions are generated by fossil fuel and power plants. Synthesis gas, which includes carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane, and nitrogen, is obtained by reforming natural gas. This gas is used to produce valuable products such as methanol. In general, methanol is produced from the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide separately in the presence of zinc oxide and copper catalysts by a complex mechanism. In this study, to increase methanol production in the unit, the effect of recycling different gas components in the industrial unit has been investigated using dynamic simulation. Also, the amount of carbon dioxide reduction and its effects on the environment are examined. These studies showed that by considering these changes, the rate of methanol production current can be increased by about two percent.