Methanol production by high-temperature thermochemical cycle

This paper explores an alternative method of ethanol production using a high-temperature two-step electrolytic cycle using carbon dioxide (CO₂). The cycle comprises two steps namely; absorption step and electrolytic step. The proposed cycle uses CO₂ and water as the feed stocks and produces methanol using electricity. The other chemicals in the cycles are recycled, which are used in the subsequent steps. To assess the performance, evaluation of the exergy and energy efficiencies of the complete cycle is done. Furthermore, the comparison with the traditional/conventional method of methanol production is also made by comparing various efficiencies. The simulation findings reveal the potential utilization of the proposed electrolytic methanol cycle, the exergy efficiency of 94.4% and the energy efficiency of 37.0% can be achieved. Furthermore, it is found that to produce 1 mole of methanol, ideally, 1.4 V of voltage is required by using the proposed cycle. In addition, a detailed parametric study is also conducted to observe the effects of significant parameters such as cycle temperature, supplied electricity, etc. on the cycle performance.