Chemical Process for the Production of Methanol with Carbon Capture (CO 2 ) Integrating the Concept of Electrification by Heat Pump and Use of Renewable Energy

Edgar Correa-Quintana (), Yecid Muñoz-Maldonado and Adalberto Ospino-Castro
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Edgar Correa-Quintana: Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Bucaramanga 680008, Colombia
Yecid Muñoz-Maldonado: Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Bucaramanga 680008, Colombia
Adalberto Ospino-Castro: Department of Energy, Universidad de la Costa, Barranquilla 080002, Colombia

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-26

Abstract: The electrification of industrial processes offers sustainable opportunities for reducing carbon footprints and enhancing energy efficiency in the chemical industry. This paper presents the technical and environmental evaluation (life cycle assessment) of a proposed process for methanol production from the conversion of a conventional process to produce gray hydrogen by SMR technology at a plant located in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia. The new process incorporates the concept of industrial electrification including a heat pump (HP) system with the use of propane as a working fluid for the distillation and separation system of the water–methanol mixture. The process includes the use of photovoltaic energy (PV) as a thermal supply mechanism for the methanol production process and carbon capture utilization (CCU). The proposed process is compared with a reference methanol production process that uses a dry and wet conversion mechanism. The results obtained using the HYSYS V12.1 simulation software allow identifying a 5% improvement in the performance for methanol production and a reduction in energy consumption of between 30 and 53%, which provides important perspectives on the overall energy efficiency of the process with a significant contribution to the decarbonization (−62%) of the methanol synthesis and production process.

Keywords: methanol production; electrification; heat pump; life cycle assessment (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: 2025
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