50. Methanol is synthesized from carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a catalytic reactor. The fresh feed to the process contains 32.0 mole% CO, 64.0% H2, and 4.0% N2. This stream is mixed with a recycle stream in a ratio S mol recycle/1 mol fresh feed to produce the feed to the reactor, which contains 13.0 mole % N2. A low single-pass conversion is attained in the reactor. The reactor effluent goes to a condenser from which two streams emerge: a liquid product stream containing essentially all the methanol formed in the reactor, and a gas stream containing all the CO, H2, and N2 leaving the reactor. The gas stream is split into two fractions: one is removed from the process as a purge stream,and the other is the recycle stream that combines with the fresh feed to the reactor.