Abstract
Sector coupling remains a crucial measure to achieve climate change mitigation targets. Hydrogen and Power-to-X (PtX) products are recognized as major levers to allow the boosting of renewable energy capacities and the consequent use of green electrons in different sectors. In this work, the challenges presented by the PtX processes are addressed and different process intensification (PI) strategies and their potential to overcome these challenges are reviewed for ammonia (NH3), dimethyl ether (DME) and oxymethylene dimethyl ethers (OME) as three exemplary, major PtX products. PI approaches in this context offer on the one hand the maximum utilization of valuable renewable feedstock and on the other hand simpler production processes. For the three discussed processes a compelling strategy for efficient and ultimately maintenance-free chemical synthesis is presented by integrating unit operations to overcome thermodynamic limitations, and in best cases eliminate the recycle loops. The proposed intensification processes offer a significant reduction of energy consumption and provide an interesting perspective for the future development of PtX technologies.
Highlights
Background and Process Intensification ApproachesSince the term “Process Intensification” is not defined consistently and the variety of process intensification (PI) approaches remains wide, a short definition and the understanding of PI in the present work is provided as follows
N2 and H2 according to the stoichiometric Equation (1), whereby the synthesis conditions are defined by the reversible, exothermic nature of the reaction
The MeOH dehydration to dimethyl ether (DME) presents a suitable reaction for reactive distillation (RD) due to three main reasons: (a) the reaction is limited by chemical equilibrium, the reaction is exothermic, which allows the utilization of the reaction enthalpy to reduce the reboiler heat demand, and the components MeOH, DME and water exhibit a high relative volatility, allowing a good thermal separation capability
Summary
Code red for humanity was addressed in the recent intergovernmental panel for climate change IPCC report published in summer 2021 [1]. Electrification by boosting of renewable energy capacities to supply all energy demanding economic sectors is necessary to reach the defined climate change mitigation targets [2]. The production of green hydrogen (H2 ) using renewable energy and the subsequent synthesis of chemicals in Power-to-X (PtX) processes was identified as an important pillar for sector coupling and for the transformation towards a sustainable energy system [3]. PtX is defined as the integration of renewable energy beyond direct electrification into the energy, mobility, industry and private sectors via H2 based renewable energy carriers [4]. The production and import of renewable energy from locations with a high potential will be a crucial element of the future energy system and will inevitably require a suitable energy carrier.
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