GENERAL

DESCRIPTION

The Problem Solving Competition will challenge participantsadeptness 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 Indonesias 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 customers needs) and also by combining the
expertise of our team and the excellence of our teamwork, we eager to fulfill our
customers 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 MW e was built in Tapos, Depok. In 2012/2013,
we did feasibility study and engineering design of 25 MW e 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 nations total coal reserve. Even so, these midquality 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 nations total coal reserve. Bituminous, the highquality coal which calorific value of 6100 7100 kcal/kg, only exists as much as 10% of
Indonesias 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. Lignites 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 highquality 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 thermochemical 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 O 2. 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/Nm 3
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 sulfurcontaining 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)
ANALYSES
Moisture Analysis (wt%):
Total Moisture (Wet Basis)
Inherent Moisture (Air Dry Basis)
Proximate Analysis (wt%):
Moisture (Total)
Ash
Fixed Carbon
Volatile Matter
Ultimate analysis (wt%):
Moisture
Ash
Carbon
Hydrogen
Nitrogen
Chlorine
Sulfur
Oxygen
Sulfur Analysis
Pyritic
Sulfate
Organic Sulfur
Heating Value (HV):
HHV Measurement (kcal/kg)
LHV Measurement (Kcal/kg)

Coal as
Received

Air Dry
Basis (ADB)

Dry Basis
(DB)

Dry-Ash
Free (DAF)

43.48
3.37
24.07
29.08

15.08
5.07
36.16
43.69

5.97
42.58
51.45

45.28
54.72

43.480
3.374
41.864
3.488
0.339
0.260
7.195

15.08
5.07
62.90
5.24
0.51
0.39
10.81

5.97
74.07
6.17
0.60
0.46
12.73

78.77
6.56
0.64
0.49
13.54

0.12
0.02
0.12

0.18
0.02
0.18

0.22
0.03
0.22

0.23
0.03
0.23

3524
3095

5294
4938

6235
5916

6630
6292

43.48
15.08

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
o
Density (20 C), g/cm
0,7928
Permanganate number, min
>30
Methanol content, wt%
>99,85
Water content, wt%
<0,1

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
1
Layout, text order, and neatness
2
Adherence to content requirements
3
Language
Total score
Report Content Assessment Criteria
1
Executive Summary
2
Introduction
Background
Problem Statement
Objectives
3
Basic Design and Methodology
Basic design
Methodology
4
Technology Review
5
Proposed Solution
Process configuration
Mass Balance (optional)
6
Conclusion
Total score

Weight Factor
3
3
4
10
Weight Factor
5
10
5
3
2
15
5
10
20
35
35
Extra point max. 10
5
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
5 pts deduction for every 1 hour
of late submission

Failure to submit before the official

deadline

Inclusion of team members and

institution identities*

Incomplete requirements

Plagiarism

Disqualification

Submitted work has been

commercialized or won any other
competitions

Disqualification

Report pages exceeding maximum

number

Disqualification for three hours

and above of late submission
5 pts deduction
2 pts deduction per requirement
per person

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