Methanol synthesis from renewable electrical energy: A feasibility study

This paper aims to present a feasibility study of an innovative plant for methanol synthesis from carbon dioxide and hydrogen, produced by water electrolyser fed by renewable electrical energy. The analysis aims to examine a methanol production plant, based on 1MW of installed electrolyser, from both the management and economic standpoints: the 1MW plant size has been chosen to represent a modular plant for the power to fuel distributed generation, which may be powered by renewable energy. The thermo-economic investigation is performed using two different approaches: a detailed design point analysis, carried out in order to identify the optimal component sizes and operating parameters followed by a time-dependent plant management optimization. Both the studies are carried out with two simulation tools, named WTEMP (Web-based Thermo-Economic Modular Program) and W-ECoMP (Web-based Economic Poly-generative Modular Program), both developed by the Thermochemical Power Group at University of Genoa.