Methanol to olefins conversion: state of the art and prospects of development

The production of olefins by catalytic transformation of methanol on zeolites and zeotypes is of great interest to scientists and specialists in various fringe areas of national economy. Due to implementation of this process on industrial level, the attention gradually shifts from scientific studies devoted to the synthesis and modification of zeolites and zeotypes with different structure to investigation of pilot and industrial plants and determination of the main economic and environmental characteristics of both the existing and the future plants. In 2019, the development of 26 production sites in China with the annual output of 14 million tons of ethylene and propylene was licensed and 14 plants with the total capacity of 7.67 million tons of ethylene and propylene were launched. The created plants provide a complete cycle of coal processing, which consists of coal gasification units yielding syngas, units for the synthesis of methanol and olefins, their refinement and production of polyethylene and polypropylene. The total output of ethylene and propylene at the launched plants was more than 21 million tons. The paper presents a review of publications on the development and modification of catalysts as well as the technological, economic and environmental aspects of olefins production from methanol, which appeared in foreign journals in the recent five years.