IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v301y2024ics0360544224014178.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Techno-economic analysis of a novel concept for the combination of methane pyrolysis in molten salt with heliostat solar field

Author

Listed:
  • Razmi, Amir Reza
  • Hanifi, Amir Reza
  • Shahbakhti, Mahdi

Abstract

Methane pyrolysis has emerged as a promising low-carbon hydrogen production method, serving as a bridge from conventional fossil fuels to renewable energies (REs). A recent technique for sustainable hydrogen production involves the process of methane pyrolysis in molten salt. To better understand the potential of sustainable turquoise hydrogen production, this paper presents a techno-economic assessment of methane pyrolysis in molten salt combined with a high-temperature heliostat solar field. In addition, a high-temperature thermal energy storage (HTES) unit is utilized to ensure uninterrupted hydrogen production during periods of solar unavailability, thereby contributing to the economic viability of the overall system. The proposed system can produce about 9 tons of H2/day and 27 tons of solid carbon/day with a round-trip efficiency of 49.8 % and a levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) of 1.93 $/kg. To further decarbonize the process, the feasibility of utilizing REs as the source of electricity for the HTES was analyzed, yielding a synergistic achievement of clean and economic hydrogen production. This configuration resulted in a LCOH of 1.25 $/kg, after including the United States (US) clean hydrogen production tax incentives. The proposed system shows the potential to achieve the US Department of Energy target of 1 $/kg of hydrogen with a 20 % reduction in the cost of RE infrastructure.

Suggested Citation

  • Razmi, Amir Reza & Hanifi, Amir Reza & Shahbakhti, Mahdi, 2024. "Techno-economic analysis of a novel concept for the combination of methane pyrolysis in molten salt with heliostat solar field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:301:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224014178
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.131644
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544224014178
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2024.131644?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malek Msheik & Sylvain Rodat & Stéphane Abanades, 2021. "Methane Cracking for Hydrogen Production: A Review of Catalytic and Molten Media Pyrolysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-35, May.
    2. Jinho Boo & Eun Hee Ko & No-Kuk Park & Changkook Ryu & Yo-Han Kim & Jinmo Park & Dohyung Kang, 2021. "Methane Pyrolysis in Molten Potassium Chloride: An Experimental and Economic Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Patlolla, Shashank Reddy & Katsu, Kyle & Sharafian, Amir & Wei, Kevin & Herrera, Omar E. & Mérida, Walter, 2023. "A review of methane pyrolysis technologies for hydrogen production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    4. Mostafavi Tehrani, S. Saeed & Taylor, Robert A., 2016. "Off-design simulation and performance of molten salt cavity receivers in solar tower plants under realistic operational modes and control strategies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 698-715.
    5. Razmi, Amir Reza & Hanifi, Amir Reza & Shahbakhti, Mahdi, 2023. "Design, thermodynamic, and economic analyses of a green hydrogen storage concept based on solid oxide electrolyzer/fuel cells and heliostat solar field," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    6. Li, Xin & Kong, Weiqiang & Wang, Zhifeng & Chang, Chun & Bai, Fengwu, 2010. "Thermal model and thermodynamic performance of molten salt cavity receiver," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 981-988.
    7. Mu, Ruiqi & Liu, Ming & Zhang, Peiye & Yan, Junjie, 2023. "System design and thermo-economic analysis of a new coal power generation system based on supercritical water gasification with full CO2 capture," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    8. Msheik, Malek & Rodat, Sylvain & Abanades, Stéphane, 2022. "Experimental comparison of solar methane pyrolysis in gas-phase and molten-tin bubbling tubular reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amani, Madjid & Ghenaiet, Adel, 2020. "Novel hybridization of solar central receiver system with combined cycle power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    2. Mattia Boscherini & Alba Storione & Matteo Minelli & Francesco Miccio & Ferruccio Doghieri, 2023. "New Perspectives on Catalytic Hydrogen Production by the Reforming, Partial Oxidation and Decomposition of Methane and Biogas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-33, September.
    3. Zhang, Li & Fang, Jiabin & Wei, Jinjia & Yang, Guidong, 2017. "Numerical investigation on the thermal performance of molten salt cavity receivers with different structures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 966-978.
    4. Yu, Qiang & Fu, Peng & Yang, Yihui & Qiao, Jiafei & Wang, Zhifeng & Zhang, Qiangqiang, 2020. "Modeling and parametric study of molten salt receiver of concentrating solar power tower plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Chen, Rui & Romero, Manuel & González-Aguilar, José & Rovense, Francesco & Rao, Zhenghua & Liao, Shengming, 2022. "Optical and thermal integration analysis of supercritical CO2 Brayton cycles with a particle-based solar thermal plant based on annual performance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 164-179.
    6. Xu, Li & Stein, Wesley & Kim, Jin-Soo & Wang, Zhifeng, 2018. "Three-dimensional transient numerical model for the thermal performance of the solar receiver," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 550-566.
    7. Tamás I. Korányi & Miklós Németh & Andrea Beck & Anita Horváth, 2022. "Recent Advances in Methane Pyrolysis: Turquoise Hydrogen with Solid Carbon Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-14, August.
    8. Razmi, Amir Reza & Hanifi, Amir Reza & Shahbakhti, Mahdi, 2023. "Design, thermodynamic, and economic analyses of a green hydrogen storage concept based on solid oxide electrolyzer/fuel cells and heliostat solar field," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    9. Sadeghi, Shayan & Ghandehariun, Samane, 2022. "A standalone solar thermochemical water splitting hydrogen plant with high-temperature molten salt: Thermodynamic and economic analyses and multi-objective optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    10. Zhang, Maolong & Du, Xiaoze & Pang, Liping & Xu, Chao & Yang, Lijun, 2016. "Performance of double source boiler with coal-fired and solar power tower heat for supercritical power generating unit," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 64-75.
    11. Seck, Gondia Sokhna & Hache, Emmanuel & D'Herbemont, Vincent & Guyot, Mathis & Malbec, Louis-Marie, 2023. "Hydrogen development in Europe: Estimating material consumption in net zero emissions scenarios," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    12. Ma, Ning & Meng, Fugui & Hong, Wenpeng & Li, Haoran & Niu, Xiaojuan, 2023. "Thermodynamic assessment of the dry-cooling supercritical Brayton cycle in a direct-heated solar power tower plant enabled by CO2-propane mixture," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 649-663.
    13. Mostafavi Tehrani, S. Saeed & Taylor, Robert A., 2016. "Off-design simulation and performance of molten salt cavity receivers in solar tower plants under realistic operational modes and control strategies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 698-715.
    14. Jia, Jiandong & Li, Haiqiao & Wu, Di & Guo, Jiacheng & Jiang, Leilei & Fan, Zeming, 2024. "Multi-objective optimization study of regional integrated energy systems coupled with renewable energy, energy storage, and inter-station energy sharing," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    15. Sun, Xue & Li, Xiaofei & Zeng, Jingxin & Song, Qiang & Yang, Zhen & Duan, Yuanyuan, 2023. "Energy and exergy analysis of a novel solar-hydrogen production system with S–I thermochemical cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    16. Fan, Xiaoyu & Xu, Hao & Li, Yihong & Li, Junxian & Wang, Zhikang & Gao, Zhaozhao & Ji, Wei & Chen, Liubiao & Wang, Junjie, 2024. "A novel liquid air energy storage system with efficient thermal storage: Comprehensive evaluation of optimal configuration," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    17. Andrzej Mianowski & Mateusz Szul & Tomasz Radko & Aleksander Sobolewski & Tomasz Iluk, 2024. "Literature Review on Thermodynamic and Kinetic Limitations of Thermal Decomposition of Methane," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-33, October.
    18. Wang, Jia & Wen, Mengyuan & Ren, Jurong & La, Xinru & Meng, Xianzhi & Yuan, Xiangzhou & Ragauskas, Arthur J. & Jiang, Jianchun, 2024. "Tailoring microwave frequencies for high-efficiency hydrogen production from biomass," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    19. Kerme, Esa Dube & Orfi, Jamel & Fung, Alan S. & Salilih, Elias M. & Khan, Salah Ud-Din & Alshehri, Hassan & Ali, Emad & Alrasheed, Mohammed, 2020. "Energetic and exergetic performance analysis of a solar driven power, desalination and cooling poly-generation system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    20. Pashchenko, Dmitry, 2023. "Hydrogen-rich gas as a fuel for the gas turbines: A pathway to lower CO2 emission," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:301:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224014178. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.