• DOI:10.1039/d0se00427h
• Corpus ID: 225676190

Optimization-based technoeconomic analysis of molten-media methane pyrolysis for reducing industrial sector CO2 emissions

@article{VonWald2020OptimizationbasedTA,
  title={Optimization-based technoeconomic analysis of molten-media methane pyrolysis for reducing industrial sector CO2 emissions},
  author={Gregory A. Von Wald and Mohammad S. Masnadi and D. Chester Upham and Adam R. Brandt},
  journal={Sustainable Energy and Fuels},
  year={2020},
  volume={4},
  pages={4598-4613}
}

• Gregory A. Von Wald, M. Masnadi, +1 author A. Brandt
• Published 25 August 2020
• Engineering
• Sustainable Energy and Fuels

The industrial sector accounts for nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve climate change mitigation targets, reductions in energy-related and process emissions from industry are crucial. Methane pyrolysis could be used to produce low-carbon hydrogen (H2) for distributed energy end-uses and for industrial processes while generating a solid carbon product that can be permanently sequestered or sold as a manufacturing feedstock. This work analyzes methane pyrolysis via a molten media that continuously catalyzes the reaction and separates the produced carbon. We perform design optimization to evaluate the technoeconomics of this technology. We model a template small-scale 50 MW boiler (10.4 ktonne per year H2) as a base case for combustion applications, because such boilers are particularly challenging to decarbonize (are expensive to electrify and too small-scale for post-combustion CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS)). We find that the levelized cost of low-carbon energy is $11.09 per MMBTU, equivalent to an abatement cost of $115 per tonne CO2 avoided. In addition, we examine a policy-informed case study of H2 production at refineries subject to the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). In the absence of CO2 credits, the levelized cost of hydrogen is $1.75 per kg H2, but when LCFS credits are included at recent prices of $190 per tonne CO2 eq., we find a levelized cost of hydrogen as low as $0.39 per kg H2. Optimization was conducted under a range of economic sensitivities, finding that, as long as catalyst losses can be minimized, costs could be competitive with decarbonization methods such as CCS or other low-carbon H2 production pathways.