IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i5p1258-d505630.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CO 2 Utilization Technologies: A Techno-Economic Analysis for Synthetic Natural Gas Production

Author

Listed:
  • Szabolcs Szima

    (Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University, 11 Arany Janos, 400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

  • Calin-Cristian Cormos

    (Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University, 11 Arany Janos, 400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

Abstract

Production of synthetic natural gas (SNG) offers an alternative way to valorize captured CO 2 from energy intensive industrial processes or from a dedicated CO 2 grid. This paper presents an energy-efficient way for synthetic natural gas production using captured CO 2 and renewable hydrogen. Considering several renewable hydrogen production sources, a techno-economic analysis was performed to find a promising path toward its practical application. In the paper, the five possible renewable hydrogen sources (photo fermentation, dark fermentation, biomass gasification, bio photolysis, and PV electrolysis) were compared to the two reference cases (steam methane reforming and water electrolysis) from an economic stand point using key performance indicators. Possible hydrogen production capacities were also considered for the evaluation. From a technical point of view, the SNG process is an efficient process from both energy efficiency (about 57%) and CO 2 conversion rate (99%). From the evaluated options, the photo-fermentation proved to be the most attractive with a levelized cost of synthetic natural gas of 18.62 €/GJ. Considering the production capacities, this option loses its advantageousness and biomass gasification becomes more attractive with a little higher levelized cost at 20.96 €/GJ. Both results present the option when no CO 2 credit is considered. As presented, the CO 2 credits significantly improve the key performance indicators, however, the SNG levelized cost is still higher than natural gas prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Szabolcs Szima & Calin-Cristian Cormos, 2021. "CO 2 Utilization Technologies: A Techno-Economic Analysis for Synthetic Natural Gas Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:5:p:1258-:d:505630
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/5/1258/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/5/1258/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gorre, Jachin & Ortloff, Felix & van Leeuwen, Charlotte, 2019. "Production costs for synthetic methane in 2030 and 2050 of an optimized Power-to-Gas plant with intermediate hydrogen storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Koytsoumpa, Efthymia Ioanna & Karellas, Sotirios, 2018. "Equilibrium and kinetic aspects for catalytic methanation focusing on CO2 derived Substitute Natural Gas (SNG)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 536-550.
    3. Götz, Manuel & Lefebvre, Jonathan & Mörs, Friedemann & McDaniel Koch, Amy & Graf, Frank & Bajohr, Siegfried & Reimert, Rainer & Kolb, Thomas, 2016. "Renewable Power-to-Gas: A technological and economic review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1371-1390.
    4. Margeta, Jure & Glasnovic, Zvonimir, 2010. "Feasibility of the green energy production by hybrid solar + hydro power system in Europe and similar climate areas," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 1580-1590, August.
    5. Schmidt, Johannes & Cancella, Rafael & Pereira, Amaro O., 2016. "An optimal mix of solar PV, wind and hydro power for a low-carbon electricity supply in Brazil," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 137-147.
    6. Karjunen, Hannu & Tynjälä, Tero & Hyppänen, Timo, 2017. "A method for assessing infrastructure for CO2 utilization: A case study of Finland," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 33-43.
    7. Boulamanti, Aikaterini & Moya, Jose A., 2017. "Production costs of the chemical industry in the EU and other countries: Ammonia, methanol and light olefins," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1205-1212.
    8. -, 2009. "The economics of climate change," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL para el Caribe (Estudios e Investigaciones) 38679, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marco Milanese & Gianpiero Colangelo & Arturo de Risi, 2023. "Progress in CO 2 Conversion Using Renewable Energy Sources," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-3, February.
    2. Yafei Zhao & Ken-ichi Itakura, 2023. "A State-of-the-Art Review on Technology for Carbon Utilization and Storage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-22, May.
    3. Siriwardane, Ranjani & Riley, Jarrett & Atallah, Chris, 2022. "CO2 utilization potential of a novel calcium ferrite based looping process fueled with coal: Experimental evaluation of various coal feedstocks and thermodynamic integrated process analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    4. Michael Bampaou & Kyriakos Panopoulos & Panos Seferlis & Amaia Sasiain & Stephane Haag & Philipp Wolf-Zoellner & Markus Lehner & Leokadia Rog & Przemyslaw Rompalski & Sebastian Kolb & Nina Kieberger &, 2022. "Economic Evaluation of Renewable Hydrogen Integration into Steelworks for the Production of Methanol and Methane," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-26, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katla, Daria & Bartela, Łukasz & Skorek-Osikowska, Anna, 2020. "Evaluation of electricity generation subsystem of power-to-gas-to-power unit using gas expander and heat recovery steam generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    2. Fambri, Gabriele & Diaz-Londono, Cesar & Mazza, Andrea & Badami, Marco & Sihvonen, Teemu & Weiss, Robert, 2022. "Techno-economic analysis of Power-to-Gas plants in a gas and electricity distribution network system with high renewable energy penetration," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    3. Bedoić, Robert & Dorotić, Hrvoje & Schneider, Daniel Rolph & Čuček, Lidija & Ćosić, Boris & Pukšec, Tomislav & Duić, Neven, 2021. "Synergy between feedstock gate fee and power-to-gas: An energy and economic analysis of renewable methane production in a biogas plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 12-23.
    4. Inkeri, Eero & Tynjälä, Tero & Karjunen, Hannu, 2021. "Significance of methanation reactor dynamics on the annual efficiency of power-to-gas -system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 1113-1126.
    5. Drechsler, Carsten & Agar, David W., 2020. "Intensified integrated direct air capture - power-to-gas process based on H2O and CO2 from ambient air," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    6. Fonder, Michaël & Counotte, Pierre & Dachet, Victor & de Séjournet, Jehan & Ernst, Damien, 2024. "Synthetic methane for closing the carbon loop: Comparative study of three carbon sources for remote carbon-neutral fuel synthetization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    7. Daniele Candelaresi & Linda Moretti & Alessandra Perna & Giuseppe Spazzafumo, 2021. "Heat Recovery from a PtSNG Plant Coupled with Wind Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    8. Layritz, Lucia S. & Dolganova, Iulia & Finkbeiner, Matthias & Luderer, Gunnar & Penteado, Alberto T. & Ueckerdt, Falko & Repke, Jens-Uwe, 2021. "The potential of direct steam cracker electrification and carbon capture & utilization via oxidative coupling of methane as decarbonization strategies for ethylene production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    9. Yilmaz, Hasan Ümitcan & Kimbrough, Steven O. & van Dinther, Clemens & Keles, Dogan, 2022. "Power-to-gas: Decarbonization of the European electricity system with synthetic methane," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    10. Qi, Meng & Park, Jinwoo & Landon, Robert Stephen & Kim, Jeongdong & Liu, Yi & Moon, Il, 2022. "Continuous and flexible Renewable-Power-to-Methane via liquid CO2 energy storage: Revisiting the techno-economic potential," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    11. Lux, Benjamin & Pfluger, Benjamin, 2020. "A supply curve of electricity-based hydrogen in a decarbonized European energy system in 2050," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    12. Neubert, Michael & Hauser, Alexander & Pourhossein, Babak & Dillig, Marius & Karl, Juergen, 2018. "Experimental evaluation of a heat pipe cooled structured reactor as part of a two-stage catalytic methanation process in power-to-gas applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 289-298.
    13. Janke, Leandro & McDonagh, Shane & Weinrich, Sören & Murphy, Jerry & Nilsson, Daniel & Hansson, Per-Anders & Nordberg, Åke, 2020. "Optimizing power-to-H2 participation in the Nord Pool electricity market: Effects of different bidding strategies on plant operation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 820-836.
    14. Silva, J. & Gonçalves, J.C. & Rocha, C. & Vilaça, J. & Madeira, L.M., 2024. "Biomethane production from biogas obtained in wastewater treatment plants: Process optimization and economic analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    15. Sedlar, D. Karasalihović & Vulin, D. & Krajačić, G. & Jukić, L., 2019. "Offshore gas production infrastructure reutilisation for blue energy production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 159-174.
    16. Ikäheimo, Jussi & Weiss, Robert & Kiviluoma, Juha & Pursiheimo, Esa & Lindroos, Tomi J., 2022. "Impact of power-to-gas on the cost and design of the future low-carbon urban energy system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    17. Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & Lo Basso, Gianluigi & de Santoli, Livio, 2022. "Can the renewable energy share increase in electricity and gas grids takes out the competitiveness of gas-driven CHP plants for distributed generation?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    18. Yadira Mori-Clement & Stefan Nabernegg & Birgit Bednar-Friedl, 2018. "Can preferential trade agreements enhance renewable electricity generation in emerging economies? A model-based policy analysis for Brazil and the European Union," Graz Economics Papers 2018-19, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    19. Böhm, Hans & Zauner, Andreas & Rosenfeld, Daniel C. & Tichler, Robert, 2020. "Projecting cost development for future large-scale power-to-gas implementations by scaling effects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    20. Gorre, Jachin & Ruoss, Fabian & Karjunen, Hannu & Schaffert, Johannes & Tynjälä, Tero, 2020. "Cost benefits of optimizing hydrogen storage and methanation capacities for Power-to-Gas plants in dynamic operation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:5:p:1258-:d:505630. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.