Carbon-dioxide-to-methanol intensification with supersonic separators: Extra-carbonated natural gas purification via carbon capture and utilization

Lara de Oliveira Arinelli, George Victor Brigagão, Igor Lapenda Wiesberg, Alexandre Mendonça Teixeira, José Luiz de Medeiros and Ofélia de Queiroz F. Araújo

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2022, vol. 161, issue C

Abstract: A novel carbon-capture-and-utilization route from extra-carbonated natural gas using low-cost/low-carbon chloralkali hydrogen is disclosed. Methanol and methane-rich gas are produced without direct carbon emissions and also with low indirect emissions assuming the local electricity-matrix as 87% non-emitting. Carbon dioxide removed from raw natural gas via cryogenic extractive distillation with methanol entrainer, feeds a new Carbon-Dioxide-to-Methanol hydrogenation route intensified by supersonic separators with liquid water injection for greater methanol conversion per pass in the synthesis-loop and greater methanol recovery in the separation system. Intensified Carbon-Dioxide-to-Methanol is designed economically optimizing water/methanol injection-ratios and maximum Mach numbers of supersonic separators. Extra-carbonated natural gas processing coupled to intensified Carbon-Dioxide-to-Methanol is techno-economically assessed, demonstrating that supersonic intensification entails 2% greater methanol production, 11% less power consumption and 7.5% greater net value comparatively to non-intensified counterpart. The intensified process removes 99.2% of CO2 from extra-carbonated gas and was analyzed at two methanol scales [8021.5 t/d, 1692.3 t/d] giving, respectively, [9.5, 41.5] payback-years, and [2896.4MMUSD, 41.37MMUSD] net values (60years). A critical feasibility factor is low-cost/low-carbon by-product hydrogen from chloralkali industries, for which the break-even prices were respectively evaluated for the two scales as [685USD/tH2, 358USD/tH2]. A third, better and safer, option is to couple intensified Carbon-Dioxide-to-Methanol to large-scale Carbon-Dioxide-to-Enhanced-Oil-Recovery providing hedging against insufficient offer of low-cost/low-carbon hydrogen while practically keeping the project net value (60years) despite twofold investment.

Keywords: Carbon capture and utilization; Methanol; Process intensification; Supersonic separator; CO2-To-methanol; Extra-carbonated natural gas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2022.112424

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