Safety Research on Methanol-to-Olefins Process

This paper introduces the present situation of methanol to olefin (MTO) process in China, Analyzed the safety technical requirement based on the development of MTO technology. According to a demonstration plant established by Sinopec, the process was divided into several units, and the hazardous characteristics of each unit were discussed. Reactor-regenerator system is the core of the whole plant, filled with a large amount of methanol and olefin mixture. The explosion characteristics of relative materiel were investigated with the use of flammable range apparatus, and the operating margin of oxygen content in reactor was discussed. The models of several units were created by process simulation software，the influence of fluctuation of multiple parameters on reaction process were then simulated. Combing the operation of the demonstration plant, scale-up problems in need of paying special attention were proposed.