Techno-economic evaluation of biomass-to-methanol production via circulating fluidized bed gasifier and solid oxide electrolysis cells: A comparative study

Abstract

Methanol is considered a promising solution for decarbonizing the transportation and chemical industry sectors, being a worldwide traded commodity that can be synthesized from biomass, renewable electricity, CO2 and other carbon-rich gases. This study investigates the potential of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOEC) in enhancing the performance of bio-methanol production from biomass gasification. The research explores three distinct biomass-to-methanol plant configurations, incorporating an oxygen-blown Circulating Fluidized Bed Gasifier (CFBG) and different SOEC systems, namely: (i) steam electrolysis for hydrogen generation, (ii) co-electrolysis of steam and CO2 separated from syngas and (iii) direct supply of purified bio-syngas to the SOEC. The study reveals that, although the choice of SOEC type and system configuration could impact energy conversion efficiency and carbon efficiency, all plants show similar performance. In terms of Levelized Cost of Fuel (LCOF) and total efficiency, the syngas-electrolysis configuration exhibits the lowest LCOF, 21.56 €/GJ, and comparable total efficiency of around 80 % to the steam-electrolysis configuration. On the other hand, the CO2-H2O-electrolysis configuration showed the highest LCOF due to higher electricity consumption and capital investment.