Environmental and techno-economic evaluation of methanol production by integrating autothermal reforming with CO2 co-electrolysis

Abstract

This study proposes a hybrid methanol production process that integrates autothermal reforming (ATR) and CO<inf>2</inf> co-electrolysis (CCE). The ATR process, which utilizes natural gas, is an economically favorable method for methanol production but is associated with high carbon emissions. In contrast, the CCE process offers environmental sustainability by utilizing green electricity and CO<inf>2</inf> but faces economic limitations. The proposed hybrid process combines the advantages of both technologies, significantly reducing carbon emissions and achieving a carbon footprint of 0.004 ton-CO<inf>2</inf>/ton-MeOH while achieving an energy efficiency of up to 70 %. Additionally, the levelized cost of methanol is $364.1/ton-MeOH, which is 47.5 % lower than that of the base CCE process, demonstrating a substantial improvement in economic performance. Sensitivity analysis further indicates that even a slight reduction in natural gas volatile emissions can make the hybrid process feasible for achieving net-zero emissions. Moreover, the hybrid process proves economically advantageous over both ATR and CCE under a promising future scenario where electricity and stack prices decrease while carbon taxes increase. Thus, this study demonstrates that the proposed hybrid process is an effective and competitive solution for achieving net-zero emissions in the methanol industry. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.