Development and assessment of a hybrid biomass and wind energy-based system for cleaner production of methanol with electricity, heat and freshwater

Abstract

Due to increasing concerns about global warming and climate change, renewable energy-based systems have gained importance for power generation, and hydrogen and alternative fuels production. This paper concerns the development of a new hybrid biomass and wind energy-based system for production of green methanol with electricity, heat and freshwater and its assessment thermodynamically through energy and exergy methods. The proposed system further consists of compressed air energy storage (CAES) to store excess power generated by wind turbines during the charging period, which is combined with a multi effect desalination (MED) unit. During the peak hours, biogas is produced through anaerobic digestion and upgraded into biomethane via water scrubbing. The compressed air is discharged and combusted with the biomethane to generate electricity and heating. Moreover, hydrogen is produced via an alkaline electrolyzer to synthesize green methanol. During the charging period, the output rates for electricity and freshwater are 2684 kW and 7.9 kg/s, respectively. The electricity, heating, and methanol production rates during the discharging period are 11,979 kW, 5186 kW, and 0.03 kg/s, respectively. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the present system are determined to be 40.96% to 46.31%, respectively.