CO2 Abatement Through a Methanol Production Process

A CO2 to methanol process was simulated and optimized with Aspen Plus. The CO2 comes from the capture by chemical absorption from the flue gas of a coal thermoelectric plant. The thermoelectric plant provides electrical energy for CO2 capture and the methanol plant. Hydrogen is produced from the electrolysis of water using a carbon-free source of electricity. The methanol plant provides 46 % of the steam necessary for CO2 capture, which remarkably reduces the impact of CO2 recovery on the performance of the thermoelectric plant. The CO2 balance showed that it is possible to abate a large amount of CO2 from the production of methanol if carbon-free hydrogen is available.