Modern processes for the conversion of methanol to gasoline
gave emphasis to the methanol production from syngas before
subsequent upgrade to gasoline in the MTG operation unit. Unlike
other synthetic methods for gasoline production, the methanol to
gasoline route produce gasoline with compatible octane properties
that is also free from impurities. At the industrial scale, the MTG
process, which can be achieved at complete conversion, is
exothermic with heat of reaction of 1.74 MJ/kg methanol (Yurchak,
1988). To successfully handle the reaction, two splitting steps are
normally adopted. Initially, methanol gets transformed into water
and dimethyl ether equilibrated with unreacted methanol over a
catalyst that is usually non-zeolitic in nature. This stage eliminates
15% of the heat. In the final/second stage, a zeolite catalyst like HZSM-5 is used to convert the mixture with a recycled gas to gasoline
range hydrocarbons and water. Several MTG commercialization
units are considered in different parts of the world. The petroleum
giant Mobil, commercialized a plant in New Zealand in 1987. The
operational unit comprised of a syngas production facility, which
converts natural gas from field sources to methanol. The 14,500
barrels per day MTG unit uses fixed-bed configuration to generate
clean gasoline with properties similar to those of the conventional
fuel.