Methanol Production from Residual Coffee Pulp Gasification Using Cu/Zno/Al2O3 Catalyst: Simulation and ANOVA Assessment

Abstract

AbstractMethanol is considered a key and platform compound to produce high value‐added chemicals, and it could contribute to energy transition, decreasing the dependence of fossil fuels. This paper presents a methanol synthesis simulation over a commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3, which is used at industrial scale. With the aim of exploring renewable raw materials as alternative to synthesize this alcohol, synthesis gas was obtained as a starting mixture from gasification of residual coffee pulp, which is an agro‐industrial waste widely generated in coffee producing countries. Currently, the raw materials most used to obtain methanol are natural gas and coal, so the use of agro‐industrial waste as a raw material would achieve greener methanol production. Design of experiments and ANOVA were applied to obtain results with statistical significance. Residual coffee pulp gasification conditions and reaction temperature were the controlled variables, while methanol production was selected as a response one. The simulation runs and ANOVA were analyzed and compared with the literature reports, and it was observed that methanol production is possible avoiding the catalyst deactivation. For the best obtained conditions, the profiles along the reactor of chemical species molar fraction, stochiometric number, methanol production and pressure drop were shown.