G E N E R A L

DESCRIPTION

The Problem Solving Competition will challenge participants’adeptness on solving a

distinctive problem on selected real-life industrial plant. The single problem is

meticulously chosen across various plants ranging from state-owned or multinational

companies, which exhibits several qualities including its uniqueness, rigorousness,

solvability, and relevancy to current regional issues related to the main theme.

GENERAL

REQUIREMENTS

1. Participants must form a team that consists of two (2) students from the same

college or university.

2. Each participant can only participate in one team.

3. Participants who already registered for Plant Design (who have passed the first

stage) or Debate Competition category are not eligible to enter this category.

4. Participants must be undergraduate or vocational program (diploma) students

majoring in Chemical Engineering (or Process Engineering) by 12th of March 2016.

5. Students under academic sanction are not allowed to participate in this

competition.

6. Each team must be accompanied by one or more faculty advisors in the making

of the work.

7. Invited participants are students from Southeast Asian countries and beyond.

8. Each team must register according to the rules in the Registration section and

complete all the required administration documents.

9. All entries and administration documents will become the property of Indonesia

Chemical Engineering Challenge 2016 Organizing Committee and will not be

returned.

10. The title used for the Registration, Abstract, and Final Report must be same.

11. Solutions proposed by the participants must be related to the given problem,

based on original creativity and various knowledge of the team.

REGISTRATION 1. Participants must register online at http://www.ichec-itb.com. The registration will

be officially opened at 30th of November 2015 and will be closed at 18th of January

2016.

2. Participants will receive notification email containing team official registration

number within 2 x 24 hours after online registration.

3. Participants must pay registration fee via transfer to:

Name : ICHEC 2016

Acc. number : 0393897238

Bank BNI

Registration fee is : USD 25 for international participants (*)

Rp 150.XXX,00 for Indonesian participants (**)

* For international participants, please enter your registration number in payment

annotation

** With XXX is your registration number

4. Participants must attach the following registration documents and submit them to

http://www.ichec-itb.com.

The required registration documents are:

- Problem Solving Final Report (.pdf)

- Scanned letter from Major Department or University (*.jpg/*.jpeg maximum 500

KB) stating that each team member is currently enrolled as a student in the

stated college or university and not under academic sanction (form of the

letter is attached with the guidebook)

- Scanned letter from the faculty advisor (*.jpg/*.jpeg maximum 500 KB) that

he/she is supervising the team

- Scanned payment receipt (*.jpg/*.jpeg maximum 500 KB)

- Newest photo (formal, colored, not black and white or grayscale; size 4 cm x 6

cm) of each team member (*.jpg/*.jpeg maximum 500 KB for each photo)

- Scanned valid student ID card of each team member (*.jpg/*.jpeg maximum

500 KB for each file)

These documents must be submitted before 11.59 p.m. (GMT +7) or 23.59 WIB, 18th of

January 2016. Late submissions after the deadline will be penalized. (Refer to

appendix section for penalty incurrences)

Each team will receive a notification email confirming their submission within 2 x 24

hours after submitting the registration documents.

Results of the selection process will be announced at www.ichec-itb.com on 22nd of

February 2016. Only 5 (five) best teams from this stage will directly proceed to the

Grand Final on 17th – 19th of March 2016 (Further information regarding the Grand

Final will be notified later)

PROBLEM

DESCRIPTION

CHAPTER I

CBS AT A GLANCE

Established in 2013, PT Cagar Bentara Sakti (CBS) plays role as a consultant and

engineering company that focuses on energy and technology project (new and

green energy). Our main office is located in Tapos, Depok near exit toll Cibubur,

Cimanggis, and Cijago. CBS provides several engineering services including feasibility

and conceptual studies, basic engineering design, complete/detail design

(FEED/Front End Engineering Design), and also project management for a variety of

project types.

Our vision is to be a leading company in new and green energy & technology by

prioritizing the balance of nature in order to achieve Indonesia’s self-reliance

(independent) technology. In order to achieve our vision, our company focuses on

utilizing the most promising and abundant energy resources in Indonesia such as coal,

biomass, palm oil, solar, and many others.

Relying on our commitment to apply our values (value our people, our earth, our

quality, our character, and our customer’s needs) and also by combining the

expertise of our team and the excellence of our teamwork, we eager to fulfill our

customer’s need beyond their expectations. Depending on our highly skilled

professional team, we commit as a leader company in developing new and green

energy & technology in Indonesia.

Our team has several experiences in coal processing. In 2012, our pilot plant of

fluidized bed gasifier with capacity of 1 MWe was built in Tapos, Depok. In 2012/2013,

we did feasibility study and engineering design of 25 MWe coal gasification plant

named IKPP Gasification Project.

CHAPTER II

COAL TO METHANOL PRODUCTION

Nowadays, coal is gaining importance as raw material in many industries as the cost

of natural gas and oil increases. As a natural resource with abundant availability, coal

has been considered as the most popular commodity that is used throughout the

world, especially as energy source. The considerable use of coal in the world is mostly

due to its easiness in transportation, storage, and use, as well as its relatively low price

compared to other energy resources such as oil and gas.

In Indonesia, the coal reserve mostly consists of mid-quality coal that is generally

recognized as sub-bituminus coal. This type of coal has calorific value of 5100 – 6100

kcal/kg and composes 60% of the nation’s total coal reserve. Even so, these mid-

quality coals are mostly exported to other countries. The second-largest amount of

coal that can be found in Indonesia is the low quality coal or generally recognized as

lignite, which composes 30% of the nation’s total coal reserve. Bituminous, the high-

quality coal which calorific value of 6100 – 7100 kcal/kg, only exists as much as 10% of

Indonesia’s coal reserve.

The variance in coal quality actually depends on the characteristics of the coal itself

such as calorific value, ash content, moisture content, and sulphur content. As coal

with the lowest quality, lignite has the least calorific value among others, which is less

than 5100 kcal/kg. The moisture content in lignite is also the largest among all types of

coal, which amount is ranging from 25% to 60%. Besides, lignite is also known for its

fragile characteristic, low carbon content, and high reactivity that makes it able to

do self-combustion.

The less superior characteristics of lignite make the application of this type of coal

becomes limited. The very high amount of moisture in lignite, for example, renders low

energy output and low fuel efficiency. Besides, it also leads to higher energy

requirements during combustion, high amount of stack gas flow, and high

transportation cost. Lignite’s self-ignition property also increases difficulty in handling

and storage due to safety reasons, and its low friability render blending operations

and pneumatic transportation less effective.

In spite of its poor properties, lignite does have certain advantages over mid and high-

quality coals. Compared to higher quality of coal, lignite has lower mining cost, high

reactivity, high amount of volatiles, and low-pollution forming impurities such as

sulphur, nitrogen, and heavy metals. Lignite can also be used to replace more

expensive bituminous coal, either as blending components with high rank coal in

boilers or in new boilers designed with flexibility to use low-quallity coal.

Nowadays, upgraded low-quality coal has been quite popular to be used in some

applications such as pyrolysis, gasification, and liquefaction. The coal undergoes

several steps of processing, resulting variance of end-products including electricity,

fuels, and chemicals.

One step on the road from coal to chemicals (and liquid fuels) is methanol, one of the

most important bulk chemicals. Methanol is a chemical compound which has wide

application as it can be utilized as anti-freeze, solvent, fuel, or as raw material to

produce biodiesel. Primarily, methanol is used for manufacturing industries such as

production of plastics, paints, explosive, etc. Those important applications of

methanol made the production of this chemical in industry become necessary.

The conversion of coal to methanol is conducted via gasification process, a thermo-

chemical process which converts carbon-based raw material into constituent

compounds such as CO and H2. Those compounds could be converted into various

chemicals such as ethanol, gasoline, and also methanol.

Step by step conversion from coal to methanol in gasification plant can be seen in

Figure 1. In general, there are five sections in the plant: (1) coal handling, (2)

gasification, (3) gas conditioning, (4) methanol synthesis, and (5) methanol

purification. In coal handling section, coal undergoes several process to improve its

quality. Coal is then fed to gasification section, forming syngas product. Syngas needs

to be cleaned and cooled before it is converted to methanol. This cleaning and

cooling is conducted in gas conditioning section. After achieving specific

characteristic, syngas is converted in gas synthesis section, resulting production of

methanol. To achieve methanol specification in the market, methanol is sent to

methanol purification section. A brief descripstion of coal to methanol process is given

below.

Figure 1. Block Flow Diagram Lignite to Methanol Process

2.1 Coal Handling

The coal handling section consists of transporting, crushing, screening, and drying

process. Coal is usually transported by means of conveyor. In this section, the coal is

firstly sent to the screening unit to separate the oversized coal before being fed to the

crusher. Here, the coal is crushed to reduce its’ size by means of crusher, such as jaw

and roll crusher. Coal is then dried until it achieves certain level of moisture. The drying

process can be conducted by many types of dryer such as rotary dryer, fluidized bed

dryer, microwave dryer, and many others. However, some process use coal-water

slurry as its feed, so the drying process may not be necessary. Before the coal is fed to

the gasifier, coal size and moisture level must meet the requirement of the gasifier that

is used in the gasification section.

2.2 Gasification

Gasification process takes place in the gasifier. The gasification section consists of

gasifier, feeding system, and ash handling system. At the beginning of the gasification

process, coal is fed to gasifier by a feeding system. Inside the gasifier, coal reacts with

pure stream or mixture of air, oxygen, and steam, forming gas product. The gas

product (usually called syngas) mainly consists of CO and H2, as well as small amounts

of H2O, CO2, CH4, and N2. Some components such as sulfur (H2S, COS, CS2,

mercaptane), nitrogen (NH3, HCN), and chlorine (HCl) are likely to appear,

contaminating the gas product stream. Depending on the gasification process,

another impurities like tar, benzene, and vaporized metal may also present in the gas

product.

In general, there are three gasifiers that are used in industry. They are fixed-bed,

fluidized-bed, and entrained-flow gasifier. Each gasifier has different operating

condition that includes temperature, pressure, and also requirement of coal size that

is fed to the gasifier. The choice of gasifier should consider a lot of criteria such as

capacity, operating condition, maturity of technology, and also coal characteristic.

Due to the unique characteristics of each gasifier such as specific feed properties

requirement, characteristic syngas produced, operating condition required, etc., the

selection of gasification becomes an important consideration in the gasification

process.

2.3 Gas Conditioning

In this section, syngas will pass several equipment to remove its impurities that include

particulates, tar, sulphur-containing species, nitrogen-containing species, and alkali.

Syngas has to achieve requirements that is different for each end-use application. For

chemical synthesis end-use application, the basic requirement of the syngas is

provided below:

— The product must be a medium-energy gas produced either by indirect heating

methods or partial oxidation with separated O2. Dilution of the product gas with

nitrogen from air-blown gasification is unacceptable

— Pressurized gasification systems are preferred to reduce subsequent mechanical

compression requirements

— Particulate loadings must be minimal, <0,02 mg/Nm3

— Tar loadings must be low, <0,1 mg/Nm3

— Sulfur levels must be <0,1 mg/Nm3

— Hydrocarbons must be low to prevent dilution and/or catalytist poisoning

— Methane <3% or reforming is needed

— Olefin content < 4 mg/Nm3

— Ethylene content <0,1 mg/Nm3

— The ratios of H2 to CO must be appropiate. For methanol production, the ratio is

2,1 : 1

To fullfil this requirement, syngas will not only go through impurities removal section but

also syngas conditioning section to adjust the H2 : CO ratio. In addition, gas cooling

may also be applied as syngas that is fed to methanol synthesis reactor needs

different temperature and pressure. Hence, the whole gas conditioning facility usually

includes bulk particulate removal, initial heat recovery, catalytic conversion of sulfur-

containing species, cooling, and repeated sequential wet scrubbing to remove the

contaminants. The syngas also needs to be reformed to remove hydrocarbons and

shift the H2 to CO ratio.

2.4 Methanol Synthesis & Purification

Methanol synthesis from syngas is usually conducted in the presence of catalyst.

Depending on the catalyst and technology, the methanol synthesis reactor can be

operated at 250 – 280oC and pressure of 50 – 100 bar. Some technology can even be

operated at atmospheric pressure. However, this atmospheric process is not suitable

for large scale production of methanol. The stoichiometric reactions that involve in

the chemical conversion are:

CO2 + 3H2 ⇌ CH3OH + H2O

CO + 2H2 ⇌ CH3OH

CO + H2O ⇌ CO2 + H2

Product stream leaving the reactor contains water and impurity. Thus, it has to be

purified to achieve methanol grades for several applications. Based on the U.S.

Federal, there are three grades that are usually used for commercial methanol: Grade

C, Grade A, and Grade AA.

The fuel-grade methanol can actually be produced with a single distillation tower.

However, two, three, or even four tower distillation system is usually used to produce

the federal AA grade methanol. The amount of distillation required is dependent upon

the by-product formation of the methanol synthesis, while the by-product formation

depends on the type of the catalyst and operating condition used.

CHAPTER III

PROBLEM STATEMENT, BASIC DESIGN, & DATA

3.1 Problem Statement

We are going to carry out a Detail Engineering Design (DED) of coal-to-methanol

plant by utilizing low grade coal (lignite) as the raw material. However, before the DED

could be accomplished, we encounter some problems that need to be solved as

they are described below:

1. Technology review per section

Generally, the whole coal-to-methanol processing is divided into four different

sections: coal handling, gasification, gas conditioning, and methanol synthesis &

purification. Each of these sections should be reviewed to find the most suitable

operation unit / equipment to process lignite into methanol.

2. Technology selection for each section

After reviewing available technologies for each section, the most suitable

technologies and equipment have to be selected with certain reason. The

technology selection has to consider lignite characteristics, technical, economical,

or any other feasible aspects that can be taken into account.

3. Conceptual design and process configuration (including equipment type for each

section)

After selecting the most adequate technologies, conceptual design and process

configuration have to be stated. This is done by presenting block flow diagram and

also process flow diagram. Suitable pictures should be used to represent each of

the selected equipment.

4. Mass balance (optional)

Based on the configuration arranged in the previous section, a simple mass

balance calculation could be built up.

3.2 Basic Design & Data Provided

— Capacity of Plant: 800.000 ton methanol per annual

— Plant Availability: 80%

— Coal characteristic used in this gasification process is shown in Table 1

Table 1. Coal proximate & ultimate analysis

(Source: PT. BTCMP)

— Specification of the methanol product is shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Methanol product specification

Component Grade AA

Ethanol, mg/kg <10

Acetone, mg/kg <20

Total acetone and aldehyde, mg/kg <30

Acid (as acetic acid), mg/kg <30

Color index (APHA*) <5

Sulfuric acid test (APHA) <30

Dry residue, mg/L <10

Density (20oC), g/cm 0,7928

Permanganate number, min >30

Methanol content, wt% >99,85

Water content, wt% <0,1

ANALYSES Coal as

Received

Air Dry

Basis (ADB)

Dry Basis

(DB)

Dry-Ash

Free (DAF)

Moisture Analysis (wt%):

Total Moisture (Wet Basis) 43.48

Inherent Moisture (Air Dry Basis) 15.08

Proximate Analysis (wt%):

Moisture (Total) 43.48 15.08 - -

Ash 3.37 5.07 5.97 -

Fixed Carbon 24.07 36.16 42.58 45.28

Volatile Matter 29.08 43.69 51.45 54.72

Ultimate analysis (wt%):

Moisture 43.480 15.08 - -

Ash 3.374 5.07 5.97 -

Carbon 41.864 62.90 74.07 78.77

Hydrogen 3.488 5.24 6.17 6.56

Nitrogen 0.339 0.51 0.60 0.64

Chlorine - - - -

Sulfur 0.260 0.39 0.46 0.49

Oxygen 7.195 10.81 12.73 13.54

Sulfur Analysis

Pyritic 0.12 0.18 0.22 0.23

Sulfate 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.03

Organic Sulfur 0.12 0.18 0.22 0.23

Heating Value (HV):

HHV Measurement (kcal/kg) 3524 5294 6235 6630

LHV Measurement (Kcal/kg) 3095 4938 5916 6292

CHAPTER IV

GUIDANCE OF THE REPORT

4.1 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

Language: UK or US English

Typefaces: Times New Roman, 12 pt (for content) and 14 pt, UPPERCASE,

& bold (for chapter title)

Page margin and alignments:

o Top & Left: 1.2”

o Bottom & Right: 1”

o Paragraph alignment: justify

Min. line spacing: 1.5 line with spacing 12 pt (on before) and 6 pt (on

after)

Paper orientation: portrait for text, landscape for block flow / process

flow diagram or anything necessary

Paper size: A4

Page numbers: at right corner of the bottom

Cover of the report should consist of title (written in UPPERCASE & bold)

and team number

Do not include the identities of team members as well as institution,

include only the team registration number.

Please do not forget to state any references that are used in the report

to avoid the plagiarism issue

4.2 REPORT CONTENT CRITERIA

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Concise executive summary of the whole report and ideas including

background, problem statement, objectives, overview of technology review

& proposed solution, and conclusion of the problem solving

Typefaces: Times New Roman, 11 pt

Line spacing: 1.15 pt

Only two (2) pages max.

2. INTRODUCTION (max. six (6) pages)

2.1 Background

(Include brief description about lignite gasification, general information about

gasification, and its development & potency in Indonesia. The ideas which are

stated in this guide book may also be used and broaden. Stating original/your

own ideas is allowed.)

2.2 Problem Statement

(Include restatement of the problem. Adding further information or opinion

which are related to the problem is also allowed)

2.3 Objectives

(State the objectives of this problem solving and determine your aims at the

end of the problem solving)

3. BASIC DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY (4-6 pages)

3.1 Basic Design

(The basic design includes lignite composition and physical properties, plant

capacity, and product specification)

3.2 Methodology

(Describe your methodology to solve the problem. It is necessary to explain the

methodology clearly and systematically. You may give the flowchart to show

the steps in solving the problems)

4. TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

(Technology review should include equipment selection and selection criteria,

either by quantitative or qualitative consideration. In each section, you have to

state various kinds of available equipment, selection criteria of the equipment, and

also the reason to choose certain equipment in the process. The technology review

should be divided into five sections that are given from number 4.1 to 4.5 below

and consists of max. 15 pages.)

4.1Coal Handling

4.2 Gasification

4.3 Gas Conditioning

4.4 Methanol Synthesis

4.5 Methanol Purification

5. PROPOSED SOLUTION

(This section is about the conceptual design and consists of max. 10 pages. The

breakdown of the proposed solution is described below.)

5.1 Process configuration

(In this section, you have to present the Block Flow Diagram & Process Flow

Diagram. In addition, you should also present the process description of the

proposed process configuration.)

5.2 Mass Balance (optional)

(This is the optional section and you will be given maximum addition of 10 point

if the mass balance can be accomplished. You may show the calculation

along with process flow diagram / block flow diagram. The complete

calculation of the mass balance should be added in the appendix)

6. CONCLUSION

(State your conclusion and suggestion of this problem, max. two (2) pages)

CHAPTER V

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Technical Assessment Criteria Weight Factor

1 Layout, text order, and neatness 3

2 Adherence to content requirements 3

3 Language 4

Total score 10

Report Content Assessment Criteria Weight Factor

1 Executive Summary 5

2 Introduction 10

— Background

— Problem Statement

— Objectives

5

3

2

3 Basic Design and Methodology 15

— Basic design

— Methodology

5

10

4 Technology Review 20

5 Proposed Solution 35

— Process configuration

— Mass Balance (optional)

35

Extra point max. 10

6 Conclusion 5

Total score 90 (exclude extra point)

TIMELINE OF

PROBLEM SOLVING COMPETITION

Registration November 30th, 2015 – January 18th, 2016

Full Paper submission November 30th, 2015 – January 18th, 2016

Grand Finalist Announcement February 22nd, 2016

Grand Final 17th – 19th March, 2016

THE

PRIZES

1st winner IDR 10.000.000

2nd winner IDR 5.000.000

3rd winner IDR 3.000.000

At the end of the selection, five teams will be chosen to go to the Grand Final in

Bandung, Indonesia. The accommodation including housing, transportation*, and

meals of the finalists during the grand final will be covered by the committee.

*Terms and conditions for transportation fee:

1. This advantage only applies to the participants from Southeast Asia region.

2. The amount of money will be reimbursed by the committee is based on the costs

of the transportation at the most economical rate from your country (or city) to

Bandung, Indonesia.

3. Reimbursement is up to IDR 1.500.000 per person.

APPENDIX

TECHNICAL REGULATIONS

FOR REPORT WRITING

Regulations are given with the intention to meet minimum reporting standards,

uniformity and to facilitate assessment. The regulations are:

1. Do not use scientific number on the Investment and Economic Calculation (use

1341 instead of 1,34 x 103)

2. Use number rounding up to two decimal points

3. Numbering format must be the following: comma for digit separator (,) and dot for

decimal separator (.) e.g. 34,500.23 or 14,225,821.53

4. The economic estimation, if present, must be calculated based in USD. If currency

exchanges are needed, provide the currency rates and its date along

5. If certain points in the report are to be referred from outside sources of information,

those sources should be well cited by giving the author's last name and year of

publication. Every source involved in the report must also be listed in the

bibliography part.

Violations of the regulations above will result in score deduction.

APPENDIX

PENALTY INCURRENCES

Penalty Incurrences Consequences

1 Failure to submit before the official

deadline

5 pts deduction for every 1 hour

of late submission

Disqualification for three hours

and above of late submission

2 Inclusion of team members and

institution identities* 5 pts deduction

3 Incomplete requirements 2 pts deduction per requirement

per person

4 Plagiarism Disqualification

5

Submitted work has been

commercialized or won any other

competitions

Disqualification

6 Report pages exceeding maximum

number 10 pts deduction

*) This rule is to ensure fair judgments for all participants

CONTACT PERSONS

Agus (+6285751480174)

Kevin (+6281299069168)

Chandra (+6282138112175)

ichec2016@gmail.com

www.ichec-itb.com

@ichec

@IChEC2016

Indonesia Chemical Engineering Challenge 2016