Quantitative Design of a New e-Methanol Production Process

Alfred Rufer ()
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Alfred Rufer: School of Engineering, EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 24, 1-14

Abstract: In the context of the need to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from personal transportation, a new process for the production of e-methanol is presented. It is a CO 2 hydrogenation process, powered mainly by renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic electricity, with direct capture of carbon dioxide from the ambient air. With the main objective of estimating the feasibility and the impact of such a large-scale plant, the various components are evaluated in terms of masses and quantities necessary for an annual fuel production of 500,000 tons. The main reactor is analyzed to assess the required quantities of hydrogen and CO 2 . The production of hydrogen from the electrolysis of water is estimated, as well as the electrical power required and supplied by a large photovoltaic plant. The size of a realistic plant and its footprint are estimated. In addition, the mass of seawater to be desalinized and split in the electrolyser is calculated. The CO 2 capture system is evaluated in the form of the mass of air to be extracted from the ambient air. The parameters of the system and its subcomponents are summarized for ease of understanding of the significance and size of the processing plant.

Keywords: methanol; e-methanol; production process; quantitative design; hydrogen; electrolysis; CO 2 capture (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: 2022
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