Advisian to present on methanol and derivatives at the Global Petroleum Show

Global Petroleum Show (GPS), a leading oil and gas conference, will be held from 12-14 June in Calgary, Canada. Advisian's Jan Wagner will be speaking in a conference session on Methanol and Derivatives,  and he and Paul Pasteris will be presenting in the poster sessions.

PRESENTATION ABSTRACT

The purpose of this presentation is to outline the opportunity for developing a world-scale methanol and derivatives complex in Western Canada. This opportunity is also a viable path for profitable export of Alberta hydrocarbons to the world markets.

Western Canada’s hydrocarbon sector has a number of advantages: 

1. Availability of low cost natural gas as well as CO2-rich natural gas which has the potential of reducing methanol plant capital costs.

2. Well-developed energy industry construction and modularization industry which can help offset potential stick-built cost disadvantages of Western Canada when compared to the US Gulf Coast.

3. Conversion of natural gas into methanol alone reduces the shipping volume of the hydrocarbons by approximately a factor of seven as well as increases the value of the contained hydrocarbons by approximately a factor of 3.5 which can result in better net profitability even given the high transportation rates.

4. Methanol is the world’s fourth largest and fastest-growing petrochemical. It is the first link in a long and highly branched chain of chemicals, intermediates and consumer products which range from windshield washer fluid to embalming fluid, billiard balls, textiles, explosives, paints, glue, insulation and many other products.

5.  Low cost and availability of large volumes of methanol and methanol derivatives are prompting fast growth in the so-called “energy” applications, where methanol is used as a substitute or as an extender of primary energy products such as LPG, naphtha, gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and others.

The presentation proposes a novel development of technology to convert methanol into high-value C4 through C9 hydrocarbons that have large markets in Western Canada itself, thus reducing the need for the export. The C4-C9 unsaturates include olefins and aromatics, including butadiene, isobutylene, neoprene, cyclopentadiene, benzene, toluene, xylene and cumene. Some of these compounds are high-octane blendstocks while others can be converted to high-octane blendstocks. This process could provide a baseload for a world-scale (1.8 million tonnes or 1,800 kta), methanol plant while leaving sufficient methanol supply for the derivatives.

ABOUT JAN WAGNER AND PAUL PASTERIS

Jan Wagner is Principal Technical Consultant at Advisian/WorleyParsons. Mr. Wagner is a Process Engineer with over 40 years of experience, covering conceptual and detail design of crude unit, hydrotreating, delayed coking, heavy oil upgrading, offshore oil and gas production and processing, onshore gas plants, ethylene, fertilizers, food plants, cogeneration, NGL recovery, methanol ammonia and hydrogen production, and utility and offsites for projects in Europe, Africa, North America and Australia. His technical duties have included supervision, front-end and detailed process engineering, process optimization studies, energy conservation studies, HAZOP and HAZID evaluation, licensor designs evaluation, economic analyses, commissioning and start-up. Mr. Wagner's administrative duties have included planning and scheduling of process engineering activities, staff-hours budget preparation and control, preparation of proposals and technical quality control.

Paul Pasteris is Director-Lead, Process, Design & Technology (Hydrocarbons) at Advisian. Mr. Pasteris has over 30 years of hydrocarbons experience with two owner companies and three large engineering firms. He spent 20 years in process design assisting with major oil companies like: Shell, Syncrude, PetroCanada, Chevron, Husky, Co-Op Refinery and others in evaluating refinery and upgrader configurations to maximize companies’ revenues from heavy oil assets, in addition to being involved in several grassroots EPCM projects from inception to design, construction and start-up support. Mr. Pasteris spent 10 years with a multinational integrated oil and gas company where he held various positions including: a high-profile Country Manager position in Italy on a gas pipeline project and VP of Marketing and Midstream and Engineering Manager on two SAGD projects.

Learn more about the Global Petroleum Show.