Abstract
Jamahiriya produces about 1.5% of the world’s methanol. The world capacity of methanol is expected to increase by 5% annually. Methanol is directly used as a blend to motor gasoline. A study was conducted to assess different technologies for methanol-based products and to optimize the production capacities of formaldehyde and acetic acid from methanol. The study also evaluated economic plans, energy costs, and the level of operations on the objective function.
Enhancement ratio, pay-out period and rate of return on investment are calculated using the model to assess their sensitivity to the model’s parameters. Acetic acid plant produces a rate of return of 10% at relatively small capacity of 40,000 tons/year. Formaldehyde plant has a negative rate of return at a similar capacity. Formaldehyde plant is feasible with minimum capacity of 45,000 tons/year as partial local utilization is projected. Evaluation of formaldehyde plant as a source of generating foreign currency leads to encouraging results.