Thermodynamic and economic analysis of a plant for the CO2 hydrogenation for methanol production

A major goal of politics, society, and industry is the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in order to prevent anthropogenic climate change and an increase in earth's temperature. In addition, the expansion of renewable energies and the use of nuclear power, CO2 capturing (e.g. from exhaust gases), is regarded as a promising strategy to reduce global CO2 emissions. In this context, the Power-to-X technologies can provide an innovative energy storage concept by combining the main trends of energy systems aiming at high shares of renewable energies, reduction of CO2 emissions and sector coupling. A promising approach is the production of methanol as a chemical raw material or fuel. The goal of this paper is to present (i) an extensive thermodynamic analysis for the methanol production from carbon dioxide and hydrogen and (ii) an economic analysis for the process based on the thermodynamic studies. The thermodynamic analysis was carried out in the simulation tool Aspen Plus™ in order to investigate the impact of the operating temperature and pressure on the performance of the synthesis unit. Based on the thermodynamic results, an economic analysis has been performed in order to define the most feasible solution. For a defined optimal operating temperature, the fixed and operating costs and the methanol production cost were evaluated for different operating pressures. Finally, a sensitivity analysis has been performed in order to define the minimum methanol selling price that allows for a payback period of 10 years for different values of the electrical energy purchasing price.