TY - JOUR
T1 - Thermodynamic, economic, and emissions assessment of integrated power to methanol concept with membrane-based biogas up-gradation and plasma electrolysis
AU - Riaz, Amjad
AU - Chaniago, Yus Donald
AU - Hussain, Arif
AU - Andika, Riezqa
AU - Kim, Gwangsik
AU - Lim, Hankwon
AU - Lee, Moonyong
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by 2021 Yeungnam University Research Grant, the Priority Research Centers Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea ( NRF ) funded by the Ministry of Education ( 2014R1A6A1031189 ), and the Hydrogen Energy Innovation Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean government (Ministry of Science and ICT ( MSIT )) ( NRF-2019M3E6A1064290 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/8/20
Y1 - 2022/8/20
N2 - The utilization of carbon dioxide to create valuable products such as methanol shows promise for addressing the issue of carbon emissions and global warming. Concurrently, it provides a solution to the intermittency and security of renewable energy supply via the water-splitting hydrogen production process. This power-to-methanol concept has gained increased attention because methanol is a liquid that can be conveniently stored and transported under ambient conditions. While direct air capture is an expensive solution, the carbon dioxide readily available from biogas can serve as a win-win situation. Similarly, water electrolysis technologies have modular, operational, and production challenges. In the present study, carbon dioxide was sourced from biogas via membrane separation, whereas H2 was produced using plasma electrolysis. The entire power-to-methanol scenario was simulated using Aspen Plus v11. High purity and recovery of carbon dioxide and methane (99.51 mol.% and 98.29% and 98.88 mol.% and 99.68%, respectively) were achieved via membrane separation. The plasma reactor supplied H2 with a mass yield of ∼50%. Pure methanol (99.97%) was produced with a per-pass conversion of 19.91% (15.7% higher than the base case). A detailed exergy analysis was performed on the process, highlighting the losses in heaters, separators, and reactors. Subsequent heat integration resulted in energy savings of 6.6%, while wind power as an energy source yielded carbon-neutral emissions. This conceptual study showcases the tremendous potential of the concept of zero-carbon-emission methanol production.
AB - The utilization of carbon dioxide to create valuable products such as methanol shows promise for addressing the issue of carbon emissions and global warming. Concurrently, it provides a solution to the intermittency and security of renewable energy supply via the water-splitting hydrogen production process. This power-to-methanol concept has gained increased attention because methanol is a liquid that can be conveniently stored and transported under ambient conditions. While direct air capture is an expensive solution, the carbon dioxide readily available from biogas can serve as a win-win situation. Similarly, water electrolysis technologies have modular, operational, and production challenges. In the present study, carbon dioxide was sourced from biogas via membrane separation, whereas H2 was produced using plasma electrolysis. The entire power-to-methanol scenario was simulated using Aspen Plus v11. High purity and recovery of carbon dioxide and methane (99.51 mol.% and 98.29% and 98.88 mol.% and 99.68%, respectively) were achieved via membrane separation. The plasma reactor supplied H2 with a mass yield of ∼50%. Pure methanol (99.97%) was produced with a per-pass conversion of 19.91% (15.7% higher than the base case). A detailed exergy analysis was performed on the process, highlighting the losses in heaters, separators, and reactors. Subsequent heat integration resulted in energy savings of 6.6%, while wind power as an energy source yielded carbon-neutral emissions. This conceptual study showcases the tremendous potential of the concept of zero-carbon-emission methanol production.
KW - Biogas
KW - Carbon-neutral
KW - CO emissions
KW - Membrane separation
KW - Plasma electrolysis
KW - Power-to-Methanol
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131458921&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132367
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132367
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85131458921
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 363
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
M1 - 132367
ER -