Experimental Investigation on CO 2 Methanation Process for Solar Energy Storage Compared to CO 2 -Based Methanol Synthesis

Beatrice Castellani, Alberto Maria Gambelli, Elena Morini, Benedetto Nastasi, Andrea Presciutti, Mirko Filipponi, Andrea Nicolini and Federico Rossi
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Beatrice Castellani: Engineering Department, University of Perugia, CIRIAF, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Alberto Maria Gambelli: Engineering Department, University of Perugia, CIRIAF, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Elena Morini: Engineering Department, University of Perugia, CIRIAF, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Benedetto Nastasi: Department of Architectural Engineering & Technology, Environmental & Computational Design Section, TU Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands
Andrea Presciutti: Engineering Department, University of Perugia, CIRIAF, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Mirko Filipponi: Engineering Department, University of Perugia, CIRIAF, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Andrea Nicolini: Engineering Department, University of Perugia, CIRIAF, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Federico Rossi: Engineering Department, University of Perugia, CIRIAF, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: The utilization of the captured CO 2 as a carbon source for the production of energy storage media offers a technological solution for overcoming crucial issues in current energy systems. Solar energy production generally does not match with energy demand because of its intermittent and non-programmable nature, entailing the adoption of storage technologies. Hydrogen constitutes a chemical storage for renewable electricity if it is produced by water electrolysis and is also the key reactant for CO 2 methanation (Sabatier reaction). The utilization of CO 2 as a feedstock for producing methane contributes to alleviate global climate changes and sequestration related problems. The produced methane is a carbon neutral gas that fits into existing infrastructure and allows issues related to the aforementioned intermittency and non-programmability of solar energy to be overcome. In this paper, an experimental apparatus, composed of an electrolyzer and a tubular fixed bed reactor, is built and used to produce methane via Sabatier reaction. The objective of the experimental campaign is the evaluation of the process performance and a comparison with other CO 2 valorization paths such as methanol production. The investigated pressure range was 2–20 bar, obtaining a methane volume fraction in outlet gaseous mixture of 64.75% at 8 bar and 97.24% at 20 bar, with conversion efficiencies of, respectively, 84.64% and 99.06%. The methanol and methane processes were compared on the basis of an energy parameter defined as the spent energy/stored energy. It is higher for the methanol process (0.45), with respect to the methane production process (0.41–0.43), which has a higher energy storage capability.

Keywords: CO 2 methanation; carbon recycling; energy storage; solar energy; P2G Power to Gas; synthetic fuels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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