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Synergies between Direct Air Capture Technologies and Solar Thermochemical Cycles in the Production of Methanol

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  • Enric Prats-Salvado

    (German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Future Fuels, 51147 Cologne, Germany
    Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Institute of Power Engineering, Solar Fuel Production, TU Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany)

  • Nathalie Monnerie

    (German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Future Fuels, 51147 Cologne, Germany)

  • Christian Sattler

    (German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Future Fuels, 51147 Cologne, Germany
    Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Institute of Power Engineering, Solar Fuel Production, TU Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany)

Abstract

Methanol is an example of a valuable chemical that can be produced from water and carbon dioxide through a chemical process that is fully powered by concentrated solar thermal energy and involves three steps: direct air capture (DAC), thermochemical splitting and methanol synthesis. In the present work, we consider the whole value chain from the harvesting of raw materials to the final product. We also identify synergies between the aforementioned steps and collect them in five possible scenarios aimed to reduce the specific energy consumption. To assess the scenarios, we combined data from low and high temperature DAC with an Aspen Plus ® model of a plant that includes water and carbon dioxide splitting units via thermochemical cycles (TCC), CO/CO 2 separation, storage and methanol synthesis. We paid special attention to the energy required for the generation of low oxygen partial pressures in the reduction step of the TCC, as well as the overall water consumption. Results show that suggested synergies, in particular, co-generation, are effective and can lead to solar-to-fuel efficiencies up to 10.2% (compared to the 8.8% baseline). In addition, we appoint vacuum as the most adequate strategy for obtaining low oxygen partial pressures.

Suggested Citation

  • Enric Prats-Salvado & Nathalie Monnerie & Christian Sattler, 2021. "Synergies between Direct Air Capture Technologies and Solar Thermochemical Cycles in the Production of Methanol," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-21, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:16:p:4818-:d:610220
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Svitnič, Tibor & Sundmacher, Kai, 2022. "Renewable methanol production: Optimization-based design, scheduling and waste-heat utilization with the FluxMax approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    2. Enric Prats-Salvado & Nathalie Monnerie & Christian Sattler, 2022. "Techno-Economic Assessment of the Integration of Direct Air Capture and the Production of Solar Fuels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Rocio Gonzalez Sanchez & Anatoli Chatzipanagi & Georgia Kakoulaki & Marco Buffi & Sandor Szabo, 2023. "The Role of Direct Air Capture in EU’s Decarbonisation and Associated Carbon Intensity for Synthetic Fuels Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-28, May.
    4. Stéphane Abanades, 2022. "Redox Cycles, Active Materials, and Reactors Applied to Water and Carbon Dioxide Splitting for Solar Thermochemical Fuel Production: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-28, September.

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