Experimental Investigation on CO2 Methanation Process for Solar Energy Storage Compared to CO2-Based Methanol Synthesis

Abstract

Abstract:The utilization of the captured CO 2 as a carbon source for the production of energy storage media offers a technological solution for overcoming crucial issues in current energy systems. Solar energy production generally does not match with energy demand because of its intermittent and non-programmable nature, entailing the adoption of storage technologies. Hydrogen constitutes a chemical storage for renewable electricity if it is produced by water electrolysis and is also the key reactant for CO 2 methanation (Sabatier reaction). The utilization of CO 2 as a feedstock for producing methane contributes to alleviate global climate changes and sequestration related problems. The produced methane is a carbon neutral gas that fits into existing infrastructure and allows issues related to the aforementioned intermittency and non-programmability of solar energy to be overcome. In this paper, an experimental apparatus, composed of an electrolyzer and a tubular fixed bed reactor, is built and used to produce methane via Sabatier reaction. The objective of the experimental campaign is the evaluation of the process performance and a comparison with other CO 2 valorization paths such as methanol production. The investigated pressure range was 2-20 bar, obtaining a methane volume fraction in outlet gaseous mixture of 64.75% at 8 bar and 97.24% at 20 bar, with conversion efficiencies of, respectively, 84.64% and 99.06%. The methanol and methane processes were compared on the basis of an energy parameter defined as the spent energy/stored energy. It is higher for the methanol process (0.45), with respect to the methane production process (0.41-0.43), which has a higher energy storage capability.

Major Advances and Challenges in Heterogeneous Catalysis for Environmental Applications: A Review

“…Heterogeneous catalysis in the process of CO 2 methanation is also of significant importance and recent work [188] presented the possibility of lowering the energy spent / energy stored to 0.41-0.43, which is lower than the conversion of CO 2 to methanol process (0.45) (within their experimental conditions). Various catalyses have been used recently for CO 2 methanation e.g.…”

Metal Oxides in Heterogeneous Oxidation Catalysis: State of the Art and Challenges for a More Sustainable World

“…In this respect, unconventional activation methods based on US [85] and MW irradiation, ball milling, plasma,l ight, electrochemical and photo-activated processes,a re viewed as green chemistry approaches to increase reactionrates and shorten reaction times while enhancing yields ands electivities. [27] Catalysisf or sustainable energy conversion, such as PEC water splitting for the production of hydrogen, syngas (CO + CO 2 + H 2 )c onversion for the synthesis of highenergy fuels from CO 2 on Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 catalysts, esterification and transesterification for clean synthesis of biodiesel [88] and CO 2 methanation for solar energy storage [89] are important examplest hat are still in their infancya nd developing rapidly.I n short,t hree important and fast-developing domains are PEC production of hydrogen, conversion of carbond ioxide into val- uable products, and conversion of biomass into valuable products. [27] Catalysisf or sustainable energy conversion, such as PEC water splitting for the production of hydrogen, syngas (CO + CO 2 + H 2 )c onversion for the synthesis of highenergy fuels from CO 2 on Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 catalysts, esterification and transesterification for clean synthesis of biodiesel [88] and CO 2 methanation for solar energy storage [89] are important examplest hat are still in their infancya nd developing rapidly.I n short,t hree important and fast-developing domains are PEC production of hydrogen, conversion of carbond ioxide into val- uable products, and conversion of biomass into valuable products.…”

“…[24,25,86,87] Recent innovations in the field of catalytic air, water,wastewater and soil treatment have been proposed,a nd innovations in the use of heterogeneous catalysis for obtainings ustainable energy and chemicals as well. [27] Catalysisf or sustainable energy conversion, such as PEC water splitting for the production of hydrogen, syngas (CO + CO 2 + H 2 )c onversion for the synthesis of highenergy fuels from CO 2 on Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 catalysts, esterification and transesterification for clean synthesis of biodiesel [88] and CO 2 methanation for solar energy storage [89] are important examplest hat are still in their infancya nd developing rapidly.I n short,t hree important and fast-developing domains are PEC production of hydrogen, conversion of carbond ioxide into val- Figure 9. Main sources, means of production,and uses of hydrogen.…”

Mapping Sea Water Surface in Persian Gulf, Oil Spill Detection Using Sentinal-1 Images

“…As a matter of fact, in 2016, solar PV systems accounted for 47% of the total newly installed power capacity, followed by wind power with 34% and hydropower at 15.5% [6]. Research is now moving towards the concept of Smart Energy Systems (SES) [7] thus studying integrated systems aiming at coupling and improving the main energy sector [8][9] on the other hand, the focus is also increasing in the field of air and sea pollution evaluation [10][11][12] environment sensitivity [13][14][15] and risk assessment, especially those due to oil spill events [16][17][18][19][20].…”