Environment-friendly energy system
The use of methanol as a medium for transporting hydrogen-based energy offers the possibility of establishing a global system for obtaining and transporting unlimited quantities of sustainable, clean energy. Using various sources of renewable energy (hydroelectric, solar, geothermal, wind), hydrogen can be produced through an efficient electrolytic process. This hydrogen can be combined with CO{sub 2} obtained from power plants in various parts of the world to produce methanol, which can then be transported to areas with high energy consumption for use as fuel in power plants. However, the cost of the methanol synthesized from hydrogen and CO{sub 2} will be nearly four times as high as that of the present commercial methanol. The authors examined a method for the production of methanol or dimethyl ether by a solar thermochemical process using concentrated solar energy. The concentrated solar thermal energy is absorbed by methane reforming and coal gasification, both of which are endothermic reactions that produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. These gases are then consumed to produce methanol or dimethyl ether. The authors evaluated the amount of CO{sub 2} emission when the methanol or dimethyl ether was used and the cost of the methanol produced by this process. The amount of CO{sub 2} emission using hybridized dimethyl ether (methanol) was estimated to be 60 to 80 % of the amount emitted using coal or natural gas. The cost of the hybridized methanol was estimated to be 2.45/kWh, which is about 20 % of the cost of the liquid hydrogen produced using renewable energy. A preliminary analysis of zero-emission power plants indicated the possibility of achieving 60% gross thermal efficiency (HHV).
- Research Organization:
- Toshiba Corporation, Kawasaki (JP)
- OSTI ID:
- 20000193
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 33rd Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Colorado Springs, CO (US), 08/02/1998--08/06/1998; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating system required: Windows 3.x; Windows 95/NT; Macintosh; UNIX. All systems need 2X CD-ROM drive., PBD: 1998; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 33. intersociety energy conversion engineering conference, by Anghaie, S. [ed.], [2800] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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