Environment-friendly energy system

The use of methanol as a medium for transporting hydrogen-based energy offers the possibility of establishing a global system for obtaining and transporting unlimited quantities of sustainable, clean energy. Using various sources of renewable energy (hydroelectric, solar, geothermal, wind), hydrogen can be produced through an efficient electrolytic process. This hydrogen can be combined with CO2 obtained from power plants in various parts of the world to produce methanol, which can then be transported to areas with high energy consumption for use as fuel in power plants. However, the cost of the methanol synthesized from hydrogen and CO2 will be nearly four times as high as that of the present commercial methanol. The authors examined a method for the production of methanol or dimethyl ether by a solar thermochemical process using concentrated solar energy. The concentrated solar thermal energy is absorbed by methane reforming and coal gasification, both of which are endothermic reactions that produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Th ese gases are then consumed to produce methanol or dimethyl ether. The authors evaluated the amount of CO2 emission when the methanol or di methyl ether was used and the cost of the methanol produced by this process. The amount of CO2 emission using hybridized dimethyl ether (methanol) was estimated to be 60 to 80 % of the amount emitted using coal or natural gas. The cost of the hybridised methanol was estimated to be 2.45/kWh, which is about 20 % of the cost of the liquid hydrogen produced using renewable energy. A preliminary analysis of zero-emission power plants indicated the possibility of achieving 60% gross thermal efficiency (HHV).