ie9b01407_si_001.pdf (237.14 kB)
Methane-to-Methanol via Chemical Looping: Economic Potential and Guidance for Future Research
journal contribution
posted on 2019-04-25, 00:00 authored by Jean-Paul Lange, Vitaly L. Sushkevich, Amy J. Knorpp, Jeroen A. van BokhovenThis
article is meant to frame the challenges and opportunities
of the methane conversion to methanol via a chemical looping (or redox)
process by comparison with the industrial performance criteria. Accordingly,
the low methanol productivity and the expected long cycle time result
in an overall production rate that falls a factor of ∼50 below
the industrial threshold and leads to the prohibitive material cost.
With this analysis, we aim to stimulate the diversification of the
research directions toward making the process more economically interesting.
We also extend this analysis to a variety of the chemical looping
processes and conclude that they all fall short of the simple productivity
criteria. We therefore recommend researchers pay more attention to
improving productivity in these processes.