Temperature–Pressure Swing Process for Reactive Carbon Capture and Conversion to Methanol: Techno-Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment

A model was developed to conduct techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) for reactive carbon capture (RCC) and conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to methanol. This RCC process is compared to a baseline commercialized flue gas CO₂ hydrogenation process. An ASPEN model was combined with existing TEA and LCA models into a larger TEA/LCA framework in Python. From preliminary experimental data, the model found a levelized cost of $0.79/kg methanol for the baseline process and $0.99/kg for the RCC process. The cradle-to-gate carbon intensity of the baseline process was 0.50 kg-CO₂e/kg-methanol, compared to 0.55 kg-CO₂e/kg-methanol for the RCC process. However, water consumption for RCC (10.21 kg-H₂O/kg-methanol) is greatly reduced compared to the baseline (12.89 kg-H₂O/kg-methanol). Future improvements in hydrogen electrolysis costs will benefit the RCC. A target H₂/methanol mass ratio of 0.26 was developed for RCC laboratory experiments to reduce methanol cost below the baseline. If a ratio of 0.24 can be achieved, a levelized cost of $0.76/kg methanol is projected, with a carbon intensity of 0.42 kg-CO₂e/kg-methanol.