Development and multi-aspect investigation of an innovative process driven by geothermal energy, involving LNG-based steam reforming and syngas-fueled gas turbine for production of power, heat, and methanol

The current study presents an innovative combined method employing geothermal energy, liquefied natural gas utilization process, and methane reforming to produce methanol and other products. In addition, the proposed system uses a novel heat design process, encompassing a geothermal-driven dual fluid, a liquified natural gas-based steam reforming unit, a combined heat and power, a gas turbine cycle, and a methanol generation unit. The proposed system is examined from the thermodynamic, techno-economic, and environmental aspects. The system is capable of producing methanol, domestic hot water, steam, and power with rates of 69040 kg/h, 771200 kg/h, 520300 kg/h, and 458200 kW, respectively. Also, the results show that this process's overall energy and exergy efficiencies are 52 % and 41 %, respectively. The exergy analysis demonstrated that the total irreversibility equals 1363408 kW, to which the highest contributions belong to the steam reforming unit and the steam reformer, with values of 66 % and 56.24 %, respectively. Moreover, according to the environmental analysis, the CO2 footprint for this new process is determined at 0.099 kg/MJ, which indicates that in comparison with the petroleum and coal-power-plants, power generation by this system leads to ceasing the annual CO2 emission by 3407743 kg and 3010374 kg, respectively.