BARGE-MOUNTED METHANOL PRODUCTION PLANT DEVELOPED BY BLOHM + VOSS AND LURGI

Blohm & Voss have co-operated with LURGI in developing a design for a floating plant for the production of methanol in marginal gas-fields. After discussing the reasons for choosing to develop a methanol plant in preference to a plant for other chemical products, the Authors describe the plant and the non-self-propelled barge on which it would be mounted. The barge would have a dolphin mooring . The plant, which would use only natural gas and sea water as feedstocks, is designed for a production of 1,000 tons a day, equivalent to a gas consumption of about 1 million cum/day, and is completely self- UBBBDDting. It is assumed that environmental conditions would allow a production of 300 stream days a year; there is storage on board for 20 days' production . The plant would be erected and pre-commissioned in a shipyard. The barge has a continuous main deck on which the plant is mounted; the auxiliaries are installed below deck. Main dimensions of the barge are approximately: length o.a. 105 m; breadth 66 m; depth 13.5 m; and transit draught 3 m. Ballast tanks with a capacity of about 13,500 cum ensure that the barge can remain level irrespective of the amount of methanol aboard. A superstructure with six decks contains the accommodation, workshops, offices, and control room, and is surmounted by a helicopter pad; there is accommodation for about 80 persons. A general-arrangement drawing shows the layout of the barge and the production plant. The article also includes a description of the LURGI low-pressure process, which would be used in this plant, and mentions that the investment costs for a floating methanol plant are much lower than those for ammonia and urea plants.