Exploring diverse pathways for low-carbon production of hydrogen, methanol, power and heat with enhanced solid carbon utilization efficiency

In contemporary times, hydrogen and methanol - acknowledged as pristine and sustainable energy carriers with reduced environmental impact compared to traditional fuels - have captured notable interest. This research delves into diverse techniques for heat generation, power production, synthetic gas generation, and the concurrent or separate production of hydrogen and methanol fuels from biomass resources. The study scrutinizes these processes through three distinct scenarios, evaluating them from both energy and exergy perspectives. Each proposed system hinges on sourcing the requisite heat from the chemical looping combustion. The initial scenario integrates the CLC with methane cracking (CLC-MC), the second integrates it with biomass gasification (CLC-BG), and the third amalgamates the CLC with both methane cracking and biomass gasification (CLC-MC-BG). A salient attribute of these proposed systems is their capacity to generate power and produce different fuels with minimal carbon dioxide emissions. The sophisticated software Aspen Plus is leveraged for simulating these innovative systems. The simulation results indicate that in the initial scenario, it achieved the highest levels of energy and exergy yields among all scenarios, with values of 93.48 % and 89.76 %, respectively. Furthermore, this scenario boasts a production capacity of 145.5 kg/h of hydrogen and 420.3 kg/h of solid carbon. The third proposed system has the capability to produce 72.86 kg/h of hydrogen and 265.2 kg/h of methanol. Furthermore, the incorporation of carbon derived from methane cracking thermally greatly augments the production of methanol. In the first scenario, the majority of exergy destruction is associated with the methane cracking section, while in the second and third scenarios, it is linked to the biomass gasifier.