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Methanol

Trinidad's methanol industry dates back to 1984, when the government-owned Trinidad and Tobago Methanol Company (TTMC) started up its first plant at Point Lisas. From that time, the industry has expanded to include six larger plants with an annual production capability close to 6 million metric tonnes (MT) of methanol.

Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited (MHTL) is one of the largest methanol producers in the world with a total capacity of over 4 million MT annually from its five (5) methanol plants located at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate. The company is the largest supplier of methanol to North America and is also a significant supplier to the European Market.  The five plants it owns are: TTMC I, Caribbean Methanol Company, TTMC II, MIV and M5000.

Trinidad and Tobago Methanol Company

This company was a state owned company which began operations in 1984 with the TTMC I plant, the first world scale methanol plant to be constructed and operated in Latin America with a rated annual capacity of 480,000 MT annually. The shareholding of the company was fully divested by the state in 1997 to a group of shareholders which included Clico (Trinidad) Limited, Ferrostaal AG, Helm AG and GE Capital Latin America Fund. The technology in the plant uses ICI low Pressure Process. 

Caribbean Methanol Company

The CMC plant was the first private sector venture into the local methanol industry by Clico (Trinidad) Limited, and Ferrostaal AG.  The CMC plant had a rated annual capacity of 550,000 MT and the plant commenced commercial production in 1993. The technology of the plant uses the ICI low pressure process.

TTMCII

Methanol Holdings owns the TTMC II plant and has a rated annual capacity of 570,000 MT. This plant also uses the ICI low pressure process. The M3 plant was commissioned in 1993.

METHANOL IV PLANT

This plant annual capacity is rated at 580,000 MT annually and. this plant uses the ICI Low Pressure process.   

M5000

The M5000 plant was commissioned in November 2005. The plant produces 5,000 MT of methanol per day and, through the utilization of purge gas streams from the existing plants, is capable of producing an additional 400 MT of methanol per day. The combined production of 5,400 MT/d (amounting to 1,890,000 MT per annum) makes M5000 the largest methanol plant in the world.  The design uses the Davy Process Technology (DPT).
METHANEX is another one of the largest methanol producers in the world with a total capacity of over 2.5 million MT annually from its two (2) methanol plants located at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate. The company normally supplies North America, Europe and the Caribbean. The two plants it owns are: Titan and Atlas.

METHANEX TITAN PLANT

The Methanex Trinidad facility, located on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate, uses oxygen reforming technology in the manufacture of methanol. The Titan Plant produces 850,000 MT of methanol per annum. Commercial production in June 2000 and the technology used is the Davy Process.  

Atlas Methanol

The Atlas facility was constructed adjacent to the Titan Plant, in a joint venture between Methanex Corporation (63.1 per cent) and BP Trinidad and Tobago LLC (bpTT) (36.9 per cent). The Atlas facility, which began production in mid-2004, has a production capacity of 1.7 million MT of methanol per annum and is one of the largest single train methanol plants in the world. The plant uses the Lurgi Mega Methanol Technology.

The data is summarised in the Table below.
       

Product Description

For a description of the Methanol Manufacturing Process, refer to the following web pages:
http://www.ttmethanol.com/web/methprocess.html

Methanol must be handled with care at all times. A typical Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) can be found at the link given below:
http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/M2015.htm