English Abstract
Abstract:
Carbon capture and utilization is an attractive technique to mitigate the damage to the
environment. The aim of this study was to techno-economically investigate the hydrogenation
of CO2 to methanol and then conversion of methanol to dimethyl ether using Aspen Plus® (V.11,
Aspen Technology, Inc., Bedford, Massachusetts 01730, USA). Hydrogen was obtained from alkaline
water electrolysis, proton exchange membrane and solid oxide electrolysis processes for methanol
production. The major cost contributing factor in the methanol production was the cost of hydrogen
production; therefore, the cost per ton of methanol was highest for alkaline water electrolysis and
lowest for solid oxide electrolysis. The specific cost of methanol for solid oxide electrolysis, proton
exchange membrane and alkaline water electrolysis was estimated to be 701 $/ton, 760 $/ton and
920 $/ton, respectively. Similarly, the specific cost of dimethyl ether was estimated to be 1141 $/ton,
1230 $/ton and 1471 $/ton, using solid oxide electrolysis, proton exchange membrane and alkaline
water electrolysis based hydrogen production, respectively. The cost for methanol and dimethyl ether
production by proton exchange membrane was slightly higher than for the solid oxide electrolysis
process. However, the proton exchange membrane operates at a lower temperature, consequently
leading to less operational issues.
