Energy, Cost, and Environmental Assessments of Methanol Production via Electrochemical Reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> from Biosyngas
Fangfang Li, Fei Chang, Joakim Lundgren, Xiangping Zhang, Yanrong Liu, Klas Engvall, Xiaoyan Ji
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Electrochemical reduction of CO 2 removed from biosyngas into value-added methanol (CH 3 OH) provides an attractive way to mitigate climate change, realize CO 2 utilization, and improve the overall process efficiency of biomass gasification. However, the economic and environmental feasibilities of this technology are still unclear. In this work, economic and environmental assessments for the stand-alone CO 2 electrochemical reduction (CO 2 R) toward CH 3 OH with ionic liquid as the electrolyte and the integrated process that combined CO 2 R with biomass gasification were conducted systematically to identify key economic drivers and provide technological indexes to be competitive. The results demonstrated that costs of investment associated with CO 2 R and electricity are the main contributors to the total production cost (TPC). Integration of CO 2 R with CO 2 capture/purification and biomass gasification could decrease TPC by 28%–66% under the current and future conditions, highlighting the importance of process integration. Energy and environmental assessment revealed that the energy for CO 2 R dominated the main energy usage and CO 2 emissions, and additionally, the energy structure has a great influence on environmental feasibility. All scenarios could provide climate benefits over the conventional coal-to-CH 3 OH process if renewable sources are used for electricity generation.