Techno-economic analysis (TEA) for CO2 reforming of methane in a membrane reactor for simultaneous CO2 utilization and ultra-pure H2 production

Abstract

Techno-economic analysis (TEA) for CO2 reforming of methane in a membrane reactor (MR) was conducted by using process simulation and economic analysis. Parametric studies for key operating conditions like a H2 permeance, a H2O sweep gas flow rate, operating temperature, and a CO2/CH4 ratio were carried out for a conventional packed-bed reactor (PBR) and a MR using Aspen HYSYS®, a commercial process simulator program and some critical design guidelines for a MR in terms of a H2O sweep gas flow rate and a CO2/CH4 ratio were obtained. Further economic analysis based on process simulation results showed about 42% reduction in a unit H2 production cost in a MR (6.48 $ kgH2−1) than a PBR (11.18 $ kgH2−1) mostly due to the elimination of a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system in a MR. In addition, sensitivity analysis (SA) revealed that reactant price and labor were the most influential economic factors to determine a unit H2 production cost for both a PBR and a MR. Lastly, profitability analysis (PA) from cumulative cash flow diagram (CCFD) in Korea provided positive net present value (NPV) of $443,760∼$240,980, discounted payback period (DPBP) of 3.03–3.18 y, and present value ratio (PVR) of 7.51–4.97 for discount rates from 2 to 10% showing economic feasibility of the use of a MR as simultaneous CO2 utilization and ultra-pure H2 production.