Comparative life cycle assessment and economic analysis of methanol/hydrogen production processes for fuel cell vehicles

Abstract

The life cycle assessment (LCA) of hydrogen/methanol production processes connected with hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV) and methanol reformer-embedded fuel cell vehicle (MRFCV) are addressed. According to the scope definition of well-to-wheel and the four steps of LCA methodology, the ReCiPe endpoint score of the natural gas-fed methanol production process named by SC1MeOH is up to 2.06 kPt, which is higher than the natural gas-fed hydrogen production process called SC2H2 by 50.3%. The new biomethanol production process termed by SC3MeOH, which is a combination of anaerobic co-digestion, microalgae production process, and combined heat and power (CHP), is validated to reduce the environmental impact of SC1MeOH by 93.6% due to wheat straw (waste) and microalgae as inlet sources, almost zero air pollutants, 58% carbons stored in the soil of the wheatland, and no grid supply. A comparative LCA shows that the MRFCV connected with SC3MeOH is lower than the HFCV associated with SC2H2 by 40%. The Levelized cost of methanol (LCOM) for SC3MeOH (about 3.08USD/kgMeOH) is higher than SC1MeOH by 18.6%. These comparisons show that the MRFCV connected with SC3MeOH is an HFVC for green cars due to relatively low investments in storage facilities and transport and minimum environmental impacts.