Purpose Technologies with low environmental impacts and promoting renewable energy sources are required to meet the energetic demand while facing the increase of gas emissions associated to the greenhouse effect and the depletion of fossil fuels. CO 2 methanation activated by magnetic heating has recently been reported as a highly efficient and innovative power-togas technology in a perspective of successful renewable energy storage and carbon dioxide valorisation. ln this work, the life cycle assessment (LCA) of this process is performed, in order to highlight the environmental potential of the technology, and its competitivity with in respect to conventional heating technologies. Methods The IMPACT 2002+ was used for this LCA. The process studied integrates methanation, water electrol ys is and CO 2 capture and separation. Thi s "cradle-to-gate" LCA study does not consider the use of methane, which is the reaction product. The functional unit used is the energy content of the produced CH.i. The LCA was carried out using the energy mix data for the years 2020 and 2050 as given by the French Agency for Environment and Energy management (AD EME). Consumption data were either collected from Iiterature or obtained from the LPCNO measurements as discussed by Marbaix (2019). The environmental impact of the CO 2 methanation activated by magnetic heating was compared with the environmental impact ofa power-togas plant using conventional heating (Helmeth) and considering the environmental impact of the natural gas extraction. Results lt is shown that the total flow rate of reactants, the source of CO 2 and the energy mix play a major role on the environmental impact of sustainable CH 4 production, whereas the lifetime of the considered catalyst has no significant influence. As a result ofthe possible improvements on the above-mentioned parameters, the whole process is expected to reduce by 75% in its environmental impact toward 2050. This illustra tes the high environmental potential of the methanation activated by magnetic heating when coupled with industrial exhausts and renewable electricity production. Conclusions The technology is expected to be environmentally competitive compared with existing sirnilar processes using external heating sources with the additional interest of being extremely dynamic in response, in Iine with the intermittency of renewable energy production.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with đź’™ for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.