A comparative techno-economic analysis of renewable methanol synthesis from biomass and CO2: Opportunities and barriers to commercialization

Harris, Kylee; Grim, R. Gary; Huang, Zhe; Tao, Ling

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.117637

A comparative techno-economic analysis of renewable methanol synthesis from biomass and CO₂: Opportunities and barriers to commercialization

Journal Article · Sun Aug 29 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Applied Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.117637· OSTI ID:1820571

^[1]; Grim, R. Gary ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Global demand for methanol as both a chemical precursor and a fuel additive is rising. At the same time, numerous renewable methanol production pathways are under development, which, if commercialized, could provide significant environmental benefits over traditional methanol synthesis pathways. However, it is difficult to compare technologies at different maturity levels, with differing feedstocks, and with significant differences in overall process design. Thus, there is a need to harmonize the analyses of renewable pathways using a consistent techno-economic approach to evaluate the potential for commercialization of various pathways. This analysis uses a novel cross-comparison method to assess near-term and long-term viability of both low- and high-maturity level technologies. Furthermore, the techno-economic assessment considers cost factors critical to market acceptance combined with carbon- and energy-efficiency assessments of three renewable pathways compared with a commercial baseline. We find that biomass gasification to methanol represents a near-term viable pathway with a high technology readiness level and commercially competitive market price. If cost-reducing technological improvements can be realized and scaled up in the CO₂ electrolysis pathways, the potential for higher carbon efficiencies may help drive market adoption of these more modular, direct conversion pathways in future markets as they present an opportunity to better support global decarbonization efforts through efficient waste carbon utilization.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1820571

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 23188668

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5100-79764; MainId:36984; UUID:64f7e532-1536-4f37-8f3c-f1293cf7c493; MainAdminID:59567

Journal Information:: Applied Energy, Journal Name: Applied Energy Vol. 303; ISSN 0306-2619

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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A comparative techno-economic analysis of renewable methanol synthesis from biomass and CO2: Opportunities and barriers to commercialization

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A comparative techno-economic analysis of renewable methanol synthesis from biomass and CO₂: Opportunities and barriers to commercialization