Power and biogas to methanol – A techno-economic analysis of carbon-maximized green methanol production via two reforming approaches

Bube, S., Sens, L., Drawer, C., & Kaltschmitt, M. (2024). “Power and biogas to methanol – A techno-economic analysis of carbon-maximized green methanol production via two reforming approaches.” Energy Conversion and Management, 304, 118220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2024.118220

Abstract

The limited potential of sustainably available biomass requires efficient conversion to defossilize future demands of carbon-based chemicals and energy carriers. Therefore, integrating electricity-derived hydrogen into biomass-based production concepts appears promising, maximizing carbon utilization while minimizing biomass requirement. However, specific process concepts and analyses are still lacking to quantify the potential technical and economic benefits of such hybrid production processes. Thus, this research paper investigates this novel approach for decentralized methanol production from biogas within a techno-economic analysis, considering two production configurations. One configuration (BiRef) utilizes electrically heated bi-reforming for syngas generation, while the other configuration (TriRef) uses autothermal tri-reforming. Based on stationary process simulations, in-depth knowledge about process behavior is gained, efficiencies and costs are determined, and influencing factors are assessed. Within the reference case, the BiRef configuration achieves a carbon efficiency of 93 %, while the TriRef configuration reaches 97 % due to its enhanced methane conversion. Energy efficiency is 5 %pt. higher within the BiRef configuration (74 %), primarily due to the lower hydrogen demand. Carbon and energy efficiency are crucially affected by reforming temperature and inert gas fraction in the syngas. The economic analysis shows methanol production costs of ca. 1,300 €2022/t for both configurations. Variations in economic parameters emphasize advantages for the TriRef configuration when low hydrogen costs (<6 €2022/kg) are achievable. The comparison with purely biogas-based methanol production shows that hydrogen addition increases production capacity by up to 67 %. Cost advantages result against purely electricity-based production, while cost parity is achieved with purely biogas-based production. This paper demonstrates the potential of hybrid methanol production for efficient biogas utilization and highlights decisive parameters influencing technical and economic efficiency.