Process modelling and feasibility study of sorption-enhanced methanol synthesis

A sorption-enhanced process for hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol was designed and investigated by mathematical modelling and techno-economic analysis. The modelling methodology combined dynamic modelling of the cyclic reactor operation with pseudo-steady state modelling of the overall process. With continuous adsorption of water in the sorption-enhanced process, highly pure methanol (> 99%) was produced without downstream distillation. The dynamic reactor cycle was designed and optimized to maximize the methanol production rate. The cycle and the process were modelled in two reactor configurations: adiabatic and isothermal. Under the default cost assumptions for the raw materials (CO2 50 (sic)/t, hydrogen 3000 (sic)/t) the adiabatic configuration was found more competitive in terms of the overall methanol production cost, at 1085 (sic)/t compared to 1255 (sic)/t for the isothermal case. The cost estimate for the adiabatic case was found comparable to a reference process representing conventional CO2 hydrogenation to methanol (1089 (sic)/t). In addition to the methanol process, the developed modeling method has potential in the design of other sorption-enhanced processes.

Automated summary

A sorption-enhanced process for hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol was designed and investigated using mathematical modeling and techno-economic analysis. The results showed that the adiabatic configuration had lower methanol production cost.