Methanol production via integrated methane reforming and chemical looping combustion: Process simulation and techno-economic assessment

In this research, a novel technology is proposed that combines chemical looping combustion and methane reforming in order to convert CO 2 to value added chemicals. The stoichiometric number is improved via adding assisted steam and utilizing pressure swing adsorption unit . The process simulation is conducted utilizing Aspen plus-V10 simulation software. The new built-in model featured by AspenTech, dubbed Fluidbed, in Aspen Plus is employed to simulate the CLC section. In Aspen Plus flowsheet environment, a hierarchal approach is considered in that the main flowsheet is divided into 5 hierarchy models or sub flowsheets. The process simulation results display that the overall conversions of CH 4 and CO 2 via this process are 97 % and 87 %, respectively. The heat integration results depict that 138.7 MW heat energy can be saved in the process. The CO 2 emission of the whole process per methanol production is 0.1 tCO 2 /tMe. The estimated capital expenditure, and operating expenditure are US$ 509 million and US$ 159 million/yr, respectively. A discounted cash flow model combined with sensitivity analyses showed that a breakeven point could be reached with a methanol price of US$ 242/tonne. Net present value, internal rate of return , and pay out time are evaluated based on DCF results.