Methanol Worked Examples for the TEA and LCA Guidelines for CO2 Utilization

Abstract

This document contains worked examples of how to apply the accompanying “Guideline for Techno-Economic Assessment of CO2 Utilization” and “Guideline for Life Cycle Assessment of CO2 Utilization”. The Guidelines can be downloaded via http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/145436.

These worked examples are not intended to be a definitive TEA or LCA report on the process described, but are provided as supporting material to show how the TEA and LCA methodologies described in the guidelines can be specifically applied to tackle the issues surrounding CO2 utilization. This document describes techno-economic assessment and life cycle assessment for methanol production. As methanol production via hydrogenation and PEM electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen are both at high technology readiness levels (TRL7+); a CO2 capture technology currently at a lower TRL (membrane separation at TRL3 or 4) was selected to demonstrate the differences that can be observed in the interpretation phase when working on TEA and LCA studies of processes with lower TRLs. It is acknowledged that there are many unknown variables with membrane capture, and it is not within the remit of this work to draw conclusions on their application. However, it is known that organizations wish to conduct TEA and LCA studies across a range of TRLs and therefore we hope to demonstrate here how this could affect the results. This document is one of several application examples that accompany the parent document “Techno-Economic Assessment & Life-Cycle Assessment Guidelines for CO2 Utilization”.