MX2008008422A - Method and apparatus for producing methanol with hydrocarbon recycling - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus and method of producing methanol includes reacting a heated hydrocarbon-containing gas and an oxygen-containing gas in a reactor;to provide a product stream comprising methanol;and transferring heat from the product stream to the hydrocarbon-containing gas to heat the hydrocarbon containing gas. After removing methanol and CO2 from the product stream, unprocessed hydrocarbons are mixed with the hydrocarbon containing gas fro reprocessing through the reactor.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING METHANOL WHEN RECYCLEING HYDROCARBON BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing methanol. Methods and apparatuses for the conversion of methane to methanol are known. It is known to carry out a methane conversion in vapor phase towards a gas synthesis (mixture of Co and H2) with its subsequent catalytic conversion to methanol as described for example, in Karavaev. M. , Leonov B. E. , et al., "Synthetic Methanol Technology" ("Technology of Synthetic Methanol"), Moscow, "Chemistry" ("Chemistry") 1984, pages 72-125. However, in order to carry out this process it is necessary to provide a complicated equipment, to satisfy high requirements for the purity of the gas, to expend high amounts of energy to obtain the synthesis of the gas and for its purification and to have a significant number of stages. intermittent from the process. Also, for medium and small companies with a capacity of less than 2,000 tons / day, this is not enough. Russian Patent No. 2,162,460 includes a source of gas containing hydrocarbon, a compressor and a heater for compression and heating of the gas, a source of gas It contains oxygen with a compressor. It also includes successively installed reactors with alternating mixing and reaction zones and means for supplying the hydrocarbon containing gas to a first mixing zone of the reactor and the oxygen-containing zone towards each mixing zone, a recovery heat exchanger for cooling the reaction, mixing through a wall by a gas stream containing cold hydrocarbon from the gas containing hot hydrocarbon to a heater, a chiller-condenser, a partial condenser for the separation of waste gases and liquid products with a subsequent separation of methanol, a pipe for the supply of the waste gas to the gas containing the initial hydrocarbon; and a pipe for the supply of waste products containing oxygen to the first mixing zone of the reactor. However, in this apparatus, it is not possible to provide a rapid removal of heat from the highly exothermic oxidation reaction of the hydrocarbon containing gas due to the rent limitations of the heat exchanger. This leads to the need to reduce the amount of the hydrocarbon-containing gas supplied and further reduces the degree of conversion of the hydrocarbon-containing gas. In addition, even with the use of oxygen as an oxidant, it is not possible to provide a recirculation efficient gas containing hydrocarbon due to the rapid increase in the concentration of carbon oxides in it. A significant part of the oxygen supplied for the oxidation of CO to C02 is wasted, which additionally reduces the degree of conversion of the initial hydrocarbon containing gas and provides additional overheating of the reaction mixture. The apparatus also requires burning a further amount of the initial hydrocarbon containing gas in order to provide a step of rectifying the liquid products with steam. Since it is necessary to cool the gas-liquid mixture after each reactor for the separation of liquid products and the subsequent heating before a next reactor, the apparatus is substantially complicated, the number of units is increased and the additional energy is wasted. An additional method and apparatus for producing methanol is described in the patent document RU 2, 200, 731, in which the gas containing compressed hot hydrocarbon and the gas containing compressed hydrocarbon are introduced into mixing zones of successively installed reactors and the reaction is carried out with a controlled thermosetting by cooling the reaction mixture with water condensate so that steam is obtained and a degree of cooling of the reaction mixture is regulated by the parameters of the reaction mixture. escaping steam, which is used in the rectification stage of the liquid product. Other patent documents such as the Patents of E.ii. Nos. 2,196,188; 2,722,553; 4,152,407; 4,243,613; 4,530,826; 5,177,279; 5,959,168 and International Publication O 96/06901 describe additional solutions for the transformation of hydrocarbons. It is considered that existing methods and apparatuses for producing methanol can be further improved. SUMMARY In accordance with an object of the present invention there is provided a method and an apparatus for producing methanol, which is a further improvement of existing methods and apparatuses. It is another feature of the present teachings to provide a method and apparatus for producing methanol which can be used with minimal gas processing and gas condensate reservoirs and also in any gas consumer such as power plants, gas distribution stations and gas reduction, chemical production facilities, etc., or small methane producers (ie, coal mines, oil production (torches), land fill, farms). By keeping these objectives and others that will become apparent from now on, a characteristic of the present invention resides, briefly stated, in a method for producing methanol, which includes the steps of supplying to a reactor a gas stream containing hydrocarbon, supplying to the reactor an oxygen-containing gas; carrying out in the reactor an oxidation of the hydrocarbon-containing gas by the oxygen of said oxygen-containing gas; and then removing impurities and reaction products, recycling an unreacted hydrocarbon gas into the hydrocarbon containing gas stream for further reaction. Another feature of the present teachings is an apparatus for producing methanol, which has a reactor for receiving and reacting a hydrocarbon-containing gas stream with an oxygen-containing gas, to carry out in the reactor the oxidation of the gas containing hot hydrocarbon by oxygen of said oxygen-containing gas. The apparatus also has a means for supplying in the reactor a gas containing cold hydrocarbon to be mixed directly with a mixture of said hot hydrocarbon containing gas and said oxygen containing gas in a step after the reaction to inhibit the decomposition of formaldehyde. The unreacted hydrocarbon gas is then processed to remove the products and contaminants before being recycled back to the hydrocarbon containing gas stream.

As can be seen, according to the present teachings, a gas stream containing hot hydrocarbon and an oxygen containing gas are supplied to a reaction zone or to a reactor, where a gas oxidation phase of the gas is carried out. gas containing hydrocarbon at high temperature and pressure in the reaction zone. The reaction mixture is cooled before and separated to the waste gas and the liquid product. The waste gas is purified to remove C02 and returned to the gas stream containing hot hydrocarbon. The gas containing hydrocarbon cooled is supplied to a zone of regulation of the reactor to reduce the reaction temperature for example by 30-90 ° C and therefore provide a production and a redistribution of the proportion of the products to produce corresponding amounts of methanol and formaldehyde. According to the present teachings, during the cooling of the reaction mixture in the partial condenser, the heat is transmitted to an input stream supplied in a formaldehyde rectification column to carry out the rectification of the formaldehyde and the simultaneous regeneration of the solvent for primary purification, methanol. Within the partial condenser, the dry gas is separated from the untreated liquids, including methanol, ethanol and water. Uncleaned liquids are supplied to through the separating drum towards a rectification column. The temperature of the upper part of the column is between about 70 and about 75 ° C, the pressure in the column is for example up to 0.2 MPa. The final product is supplied for additional storage or processing. The dry gas is purified to remove C02 and formaldehyde and then returned to the reactor in the hydrocarbon inlet stream. The time of the presence of the reaction mixture in the reactor is about 1.2 sec. The induction period takes approximately 70% of this time and a significant temperature increase of the mixture takes place thereafter. The content of methanol in the reacted gas is approximately 40% due to. its high stability and selectivity, while the formaldehyde content is approximately 4% due to its low stability and selectivity. In order to increase the formaldehyde portion to 8-13% in the final product, the reaction temperature is reduced by 30-90 ° C after the induction period (after the formaldehyde has formed) in 0.7-1.4 sec. . of the reaction due to the injection of the gas containing cold hydrocarbon into the regulation zone. When the reaction temperature is changed from 370 ° C to 450 ° C, the content of the aldehydes is increased to from 5% to 13% and the content of organic acids increases from 0.5% to 0.7%. The selectivity approaching a maximum with respect to liquid organic products, including methanol and formaldehyde, is maintained using an oxygen concentration in the initial 2-2.8% gas mixture. The new features that are considered as characteristics for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. However, the invention by itself, both its construction and its method of operation, together with the additional objects and advantages thereof, will be better understood starting from the following description of the specific embodiments when read together with the drawings. companions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figures 1A and IB are views schematically showing a system of an apparatus for producing methanol in accordance with the present teachings. Figures 2 and 3 are views illustrating the concentrations of oxygen, formaldehyde and methanol during the reactions according to the prior art and according to the present invention correspondingly; Y Figure 4 represents a graphic representation of the oxygenates produced from the system as a function of the recycling ratio.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES An apparatus for producing methanol according to the present invention has a reactor 100 that facilitates a gas oxidation phase of a hydrocarbon containing gas shown in Figures 1A and IB. Figure IB details the inputs and outputs of the reactor. The reactor 100 has a reaction zone 102 which is provided with a device 104 for introducing a gas stream containing hot hydrocarbon and a device 105, for introducing an oxygen-containing gas. As explained in detail below, the oxygen-containing gas preferably has an oxygen content greater than 80% to reduce the accumulation of inert gases due to the recycling process. The reactor 100 further has a regulation zone 108 provided with an optional device 110 for introducing a stream of gas containing hydrocarbon cooled to reduce the temperature of the reaction during the operation of the apparatus. In addition, the reactor 100 is provided with thermal cavities 112 for controlling and regulating the temperatures in the corresponding zones, provided for example with thermocouplers. The apparatus has a device 114 for cooling the reaction mixture before separation. Additionally, partial condenser 112 incorporates a heat exchanger of gas-liquid to further reduce the temperature of the products. The condenser 122 separates the H20 and the alcohols from a mixture of hydrocarbon-C02. The partial condenser 122 is preferably isobaric, as opposed to isothermal, to avoid pressure losses. The product stream enters and the liquid stream and gaseous stream exit condenser 122. Block 139 represents the equipment which is configured to separate contaminants and products from the hydrocarbon-containing recycle gas component. In this regard, the equipment 139 is configured to withdraw C02 from the reduced product stream. The equipment 139 can take the form of a purge valve, absorber, membrane separator or an adsorber. It is envisaged that the equipment 139 can be used to regulate the percentage of other non-reactive components such as N2 with for example a purge valve. In the case of the system is configured to recover formaldehyde, the reduced gaseous product stream leads to the isobaric condenser 122 and is passed to the scrubber 134. The scrubber 134 prevents the accumulation of CO 2 and. allows the physical capture of formaldehyde. The scrubber 134 can use a mixture of methanol and water to physically absorb the formaldehyde and CO 2 from the hydrocarbon gas recycling cycle 135. The efficiency of the scrubber 134, which can operate properly without refrigeration, is made possible due to the high operating pressure of recycling cycle 135. This is opposite to the cryogenically low temperatures used by traditional absorption processes. Other potential methods using materials such as various known amines to remove C02 and formaldehyde can be used. The gases enter the scrubber 134 as a "dirty" gas with some present amount of formaldehyde and CO 2. These components will only be present in relatively dilute quantities, so the service of the methanol absorber is also relatively small. To meet the minimum absorption requirements, the modification of the methanol flow rate or the operating temperature of the scrubber column can be used. If it is desired to operate the extremely low absorbent flow rates, then a lower temperature, for example 0 ° C, can be used. If it is desirable to operate at ambient temperatures or achievable temperatures through cooling water, then a high flow rate may be used, eg, ten times the flow rate per 0 ° C. In any scenario, the stream 14 of the charged methanol absorbent is completely regenerated by the distillation column of the formaldehyde 138. Optionally, the stream 14 from the scrubber 134 can be passed through the condenser 122 to provide cooling of the product stream and preheat the methanol recycling to improve the energy efficiency of the formaldehyde distillation column 138. The reactor 100 is connected to a compressor 124 and the heater 124 to supply the oxygen-containing gas compressed and hot. The raw hydrocarbon-containing gas is mixed with the clean hydrocarbon gas from the scrubber 134 and heated using a heater 136. In the case, the unreacted hydrocarbons having a high CO 2 content, the unreacted hydrocarbons can be mixed with the unreacted hydrocarbon. the hydrocarbon stream of the reduced product from from the condenser 122 before entering the scrubber 134 to remove polluting gases before entering the reactor. The apparatus further has a unit for methanol rectification which includes a vaporization drum 132, a rectification column 128 and a vessel 130 from which methanol is supplied for further storage or processing. This rectification column 128 is used to separate methanol (light-toned component) from ethanol (dark-toned component) and water (non-toned component). As before, it is desirable for a portion of the dark tonality to enter the distilled stream (as dictated for the commercial specification for formalin). For the rectification of methanol, 99% or higher purity is typical and 99.999% is achieved with multiple columns. Stream 4 enters the column and distillate, stream 5, and sediments, stream 8, leaves the column in the liquid phase. Stream 8 has some amount of ethanol (and maybe methanol, if pure ultra methanol is produced) and will be used as the base of an aqueous composition of the commercial formalin stream (stream 11). In this form, some of the ethanol is recovered before the remainder is discarded in the liquid waste stream. Positioned between column 128 and condenser 122 is a vaporization drum 132. for removing C02 and formaldehyde from the liquid product stream. The purpose of the vaporization drum 132 is the pressure drop to an appropriate level before entering the methanol rectification column 128 and to remove substantially any of the dissolved gases, typically C02 and formaldehyde, from the liquid product stream. . In operation, the gas stream containing unpurified hydrocarbon with a methane content of up to 98% and the reduced hydrocarbon product stream, for example, is supplied from the gas preparation facility or any other source to heater 136, in which it is heated to a temperature of 430-470 ° C. The gas containing hot hydrocarbon is then supplied to the reaction zone 102 of the reactor 100. The compressed air with pressure for example of 7-8 MPa and with a proportion of 80% up to 100% and preferably 90% up to 95% oxygen it is supplied by the compressor 124 also to the reaction zone 102 of the reactor 100. The oxidation reaction takes place in the reaction zone 102 of the reactor 100. Between 2.0 and 3.0% of 02 of the total volume of the reactants are reacted with the gas stream containing hot hydrocarbon as previously described. To limit the amount of 2 within the system, for example less than 30% -40% or reduce the required size of the purge stream to achieve the same, the stream of 02 is preferably substantially pure, thus limiting the amount of N2 that enters the system. A second optionally cold stream or in other words a lower temperature of the hydrocarbon-containing gas that the gases in the reactor is supplied through the introduction device 108 to the regulation zone of the reactor 100. This current is regulated by the device. regulation 120, which can be formed as a known gas supply regulation device, regulating valve or the like. This cold stream can be composed of a hydrocarbon stream without purify, a recycled stream or a portion or combination or both. The regulator is configured to adjust the volume or pressure of the gas ,; containing hydrocarbon cooled based on system parameters such as, but not limited to, the percentages of pressure, temperature or reaction product downstream in the system. Depending on the proposed mode of operation of the apparatus, in particular the proposed production of methanol or methanol and formaldehyde, the reaction mixture is subjected to the reaction in the reactor without the introduction of the cold hydrocarbon containing gas if it is desired to produce exclusively methanol. The introduction of the cold hydrocarbon containing gas is used when it is desired to produce methanol and formaldehyde. By introducing the gas containing cold hydrocarbon, the reaction temperature is reduced for example by 30-90 ° in order to preserve the formaldehyde content in the separated mixture by reducing the decomposition of formaldehyde to CO2. The reaction mixture is supplied to the heat exchanger 114 to transfer heat to the stream entering the reactor from the reaction mixture leaving the reactor, and after further cooling is supplied into the partial condenser 122. The separation of the mixture towards the high and low volatile components (dry gas and liquid without debugging respectively) is carried out in the partial condenser 122 which can absorb at least some of the formaldehyde into the liquid stream without debugging as desired. The dry gas is promoted to a scrubber 134, while untreated liquids from the condenser 122 are supplied to the steaming drum 132. The scrubber 134 functions to remove C02 and formaldehyde from the dry gas stream. In this aspect, the scrubber 134 utilizes both H2o and methanol between a pressure of 7-8 MPa and between about 0 ° C and about 50 ° C to absorb C02 and formaldehyde. Once C02 and formaldehyde are removed, the reduced stream of hydrocarbon gas is recycled by mixing the reduced stream with the stream of gas containing unpurified hydrocarbon either before or into the reactor, as desired. Unpurified and reduced hydrocarbon streams, individually or in combination, are then introduced into reaction chamber 100 at inlet 104 or inlet 110 after being heated by heat exchanger 116 and heater 136 as previously described. The rectification column is used to separate the carbon dioxide (component without tonality) and formaldehyde (clear tone component) from methanol (dark-toned component) and water (components without tonality). The charged methanol stream, the stream 14, enters the rectification column and is separated to a formaldehyde distillate stream 16 and a stream of sediments, stream 15. Some amount of methanol is desirable in the distillate stream since methanol is used as a stabilizer for the production of commercial grade formalin (6-15% alcohol stabilizer, 37% formaldehyde and the remainder being water). By allowing a portion of the dark tonality in the distillate stream, separation becomes easier; furthermore, the process losses typically experienced during the absorbent regeneration are subsequently nullified as the methanol within the distillate if used for the production of formalin. Stream 15 is supplemented by stream 31 in order to replace any methanol that was transferred to the distillate stream, stream 16. The combination of stream 31 and stream 15 results in stream 17, which then returns to the scrubber 134 as the regenerated methanol absorber. Meanwhile, the formaldehyde distillate, stream 16, is combined with the vapors from the vaporization drum 132, the stream 7, to form a mixture of formaldehyde, methanol and carbon dioxide. The formaldehyde, water, methanol and C02 removed by scrubber 134 are passed to the formaldehyde rectification column 138. Column 138 removes formaldehyde and C02 from the methanol-water stream. The small amounts of methanol are combined with the methanol produced and introduced into the scrubber 134 to remove additional amounts of C02 or formaldehyde from the reduced hydrocarbon stream. The free or non-aqueous formaldehyde is allowed to remain in the gas phase by the operation of the isobaric condenser 122. The product stream of liquid methanol or unpurified liquids can then comprise methanol, ethanol and water by allowing the formaldehyde to remain in the stream soda. In this case, the liquid stream exiting the isobaric condenser 122 can bypass the rectification portion of the formaldehyde from the process and enter the methanol rectification column after having optionally passed through the vaporization drum 132. Figures 2 and 3 show diagrams of the concentration of oxygen, formaldehyde and methanol in uncooled and cooled reactions, respectively. As can be seen from Figure 2, approximately after 2 seconds, the oxygen burns completely. At this time the reaction temperature reaches its maximum and the methanol and formaldehyde are produced with their proportions in the reaction mixture. Methanol is a more stable product at the end of the reaction and its The concentration remains substantially stable after reaching its maximum concentration. The formaldehyde is less stable and therefore with an increase in temperature (the temperature increauntil the oxygen is completely burned) its concentration is reduced a little. In the reaction with the cooling shown in Figure 3, through the introduction of cold gas when the formation of methane is complete! and formaldehyde, the temperature of a final period of the reaction is reduced in order to inhibit the decomposition of formaldehyde. Figure 4 presents a graphical representation of oxygenate production from the system as a function of the recycling ratio of hydrocarbon gas recycling. A graph depicting the use of Michigan Antrim gas that has 97% CH4 and 1% N2 is shown. In this aspect, the graph shows a significant increase in the product produced using the same input current and with a small increase in capital costs. As the pressure efficiently manages the system and integrates the use of process energy, energy requirements are minimized, thus increasing the entire economy of the system. It will be understood that each of the elements described above or two or more together can also find a useful application in other types of methods and constructions. which differ from the types described above. Although the invention has been illustrated and described as a mode in the method and apparatus for producing methanol, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes can be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention. Without further analysis, the foregoing will fully disclose the essence of the present invention that others may, when applying current knowledge, easily adapt it for various applications without omitting the features forming the prior art view, clearly constituting the essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention. What is claimed as novelty and desired to be protected by the Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

Claims (29)

1. CLAIMS 1. A method for producing methanol comprising: supplying a first gas stream containing hot hydrocarbon to a reactor; supplying in the reactor a gas containing oxygen; carrying out in the reactor, the oxidation of the gas stream containing hot hydrocarbon by oxygen of the oxygen-containing gas to provide a product stream comprising methanol and formaldehyde; and transferring heat from the product stream to the first stream of the hydrocarbon-containing gas; remove the methanol from the product stream; and removing C02 from the product stream to form the reduced product stream comprising hydrocarbons, wherein the first stream comprises at least a portion of the stream of reduced product.
2. 2. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the oxidation is partial oxidation without a catalyst.
3. 3. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the heat transfer from the product stream to the hydrocarbon-containing gas at least partially heats the hydrocarbon-containing gas on the which after this is further heated to provide the first stream of the gas containing hot hydrocarbon.
4. 4. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the heat is transferred from the product stream to the hydrocarbon-containing gas in a heat exchanger downstream of the reactor.
5. The method as in claim 4 wherein the portion of the reactor heat exchanger comprises a portion downstream of the reactor.
6. The method as in claim 1 wherein removal of C02 passes the product stream through at least one of a scrubber, purge stream or membrane separator.
7. 7. The method as in claim 1 wherein carrying out oxidation in the reactor occurs at pressures between about 7 and 8 MPa.
8. 8. The method as in claim 1 wherein the oxygen-containing gas comprises between 80% and 100% oxygen.
9. 9. The method as in claim 1 wherein the oxygen-containing gas comprises less than 20% nitrogen.
10. 10. The method as in claim 1 wherein carrying out oxidation in the reactor occurs at temperatures between about 430 ° C and 470 ° C.
11. 11. A method as defined in the claim I, which further comprises supplying the hydrocarbon containing gas cooled in the reactor.
12. The method as in claim 11 wherein said supply of the hydrocarbon-containing gas cooled in the reactor includes supplying the hydrocarbon-containing gas cooled in the reactor in the stage when the formation of the methanol and formaldehyde is substantially completed or from here in ahead.
13. 13. A method as defined in the claim II, wherein said supply of the cold hydrocarbon containing gas includes adjusting the amount of the cold hydrocarbon containing gas in order to influence the degree of formaldehyde decomposition in the reactor.
14. 14. A method as in claim 11, wherein the gas containing cold hydrocarbon is colder than the gas containing hot hydrocarbon.
15. 15. An apparatus for producing methanol comprising: a reactor; a first hydrocarbon-containing gas supply means for supplying in the reactor a first gas stream containing hydrocarbon; means for supplying an oxygen-containing gas to the reactor, so that said reactor takes place an oxidation reaction of the hot hydrocarbon containing gas with oxygen from the oxygen containing gas to produce a product stream comprising formaldehyde and methanol; a means for removing C02 and formaldehyde from the product stream; and wherein the first stream comprises a portion of the product stream.
16. The apparatus according to claim 15 further comprising a second hydrocarbon-containing gas supply means, downstream of the first hydrocarbon-containing gas supply means for supplying in the reactor a gas containing cold hydrocarbon to be mixed directly with a mixture of the hydrocarbon-containing gas and the oxygen-containing gas to produce the product stream comprising formaldehyde and methanol; and heat exchanger means for transferring heat from the product stream to the hydrocarbon containing gas supplied by the first supply means.
17. 17. An apparatus as defined in claim 16 and further comprising a heater placed between the heat exchanger means and the reactor inlet to further preheat the hydrocarbon containing gas prior to its supply to the reactor.
18. 18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the portion of the reactor heat exchanger comprises a portion downstream of the reactor.
19. 19. An apparatus as in claim 16, wherein said second supply means is disposed at a location of said reactor wherein the formation of methanol and formaldehyde is substantially complete.
20. 20. An apparatus as in claim 16 wherein a controller adjusts the second supply means based on one or more operating parameters.
21. 21. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein the one or more parameters comprise the temperature.
22. 22. An apparatus as in claim 15 further comprising a condenser that condenses a relatively low volatility component of the product stream for separation from a relatively high volatility component of the product stream.
23. 23. An apparatus as in claim 22 comprising a formaldehyde rectifier downstream of the condenser.
24. 24. An apparatus as in claim 22 comprising a methanol rectifier downstream of the condenser.
25. 25. An apparatus for producing methanol that comprises: a reactor; a first gas stream containing hydrocarbon coupled to the reactor; a supply of an oxygen containing gas, coupled to the reactor to facilitate an oxidation reaction of the hot hydrocarbon containing gas with oxygen from the oxygen containing gas to produce a product stream comprising formaldehyde and methanol; a second hydrocarbon-containing gas stream, downstream of the first hydrocarbon-containing gas stream, for supplying in the reactor a gas containing cold hydrocarbon to be directly mixed with a mixture of the hydrocarbon-containing gas and the oxygen-containing gas comprising formaldehyde and methanol; a heat exchanger for transferring heat from the product stream to the first gas stream containing hydrocarbon; a mechanism configured to remove C02 from the product stream; and wherein the first stream comprises a portion of the product stream.
26. 26. An apparatus as defined in claim 25 and further comprising a heater placed between the heat exchanger and the reactor to further preheat the gas stream containing hydrocarbon prior to its coupling to the reactor.
27. 27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the reactor heat exchanger comprises a portion downstream of the reactor.
28. 28. An apparatus as in claim 25, wherein the second hydrocarbon-containing gas stream enters the reactor wherein the formation of the methanol and formaldehyde is substantially complete.
29. 29. An apparatus as in claim 25 wherein a controller adjusts a parameter of the second gas stream containing hydrocarbon based on one or more operating parameters of the system.