Chemical energy storage to produce methanol

How methanol can be stored for multiple days?

26. 27. Energy storage for multiple days can help wind and solar supply reliable power. Synthesizing methanol from carbon dioxide and electrolytic hydrogen provides such ultra-long-duration storage in liquid form. Carbon dioxide can be captured from Allam cycle turbines burning methanol and cycled back into methanol synthesis.

Can methanol be used for energy storage?

24. 25. Environ. Res. Lett. 2022; 17, 044018 26. 27. Energy storage for multiple days can help wind and solar supply reliable power. Synthesizing methanol from carbon dioxide and electrolytic hydrogen provides such ultra-long-duration storage in liquid form.

Could methanol be an alternative to hydrogen storage?

Methanol as ULDES could offer an alternative to hydrogen storage. A concept for methanol storage with carbon cycling from Baak et al. 8 is sketched in Figure 1 with all inputs and outputs. Methanol can be synthesized from electrolytic hydrogen and carbon oxides (so called “e-methanol”).

Can methanol be stored underground?

Carbon dioxide can be captured from Allam cycle turbines burning methanol and cycled back into methanol synthesis. Methanol storage shows significant cost advantages compared to hydrogen at locations where there are no geological salt deposits for underground hydrogen storage.

Does methanol synthesis require large-scale hydrogen storage?

In production facilities using fossil fuels, methanol synthesis is run with high-capacity factors. Maintaining these high load levels with fluctuating hydrogen supply from variable electricity would require large-scale hydrogen storage to buffer the hydrogen, which may not be available as discussed above.

Does storage of electricity or hydrogen reduce methanol production cost?

Time-variable electricity cost or availability thus motivates flexible operation. However, it is unclear if each unit of the process should be operated flexibly, and if storage of electricity or hydrogen reduces the methanol production cost. To answer these questions, we modeled a Power-to-Methanol plant with batteries and hydrogen storage.