Published at Energy Conversion and Management – Co-generation of methanol and electricity using integrated concentrated solar power, calcium looping, and methane bi-reforming: Energy, exergy and economic analyses

<p><a href="https://www.solarpaces.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/p.png"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-29706" height="438" src="https://www.solarpaces.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/p.png" width="750" /></a><br />
<strong>Abstract:</strong><br />
Concentrated solar power integrated with the calcium looping process enables dispatchable power generation. However, from an equipment perspective, various challenges such as high energy demand of CO₂ compressors and the immaturity of solid–solid heat exchangers impede the application of such a system. In the present work, an integrated system incorporating concentrated solar power and methane bi-reforming was proposed for the co-generation of methanol and electricity. Energy analysis examined the impact of eliminating the CO₂ compressor, designing thermal integration without solid–solid heat exchangers and adopting solar reforming receivers on the system. Results showed that removing CO₂ compressors led to a power generation efficiency of 19.51 %, indicating an increase of 11.68 %. Thermal integration further improved the power generation efficiency to 21.00 %, indicating an increase of 7.64 %. The thermal efficiency for the synthesis of methanol exhibited no decline and achieved a value of 50.27 %. In addition, solar-driven methane bi-reforming reduced the CO₂ emissions by 76.60 % to 0.11 t CO₂/t CH₃OH for the synthesis of methanol. Exergy analysis showed that the total <a class="topic-link" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/exergy-efficiency" title="Learn more about exergy efficiency from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">exergy efficiency</a> of the proposed system reached the value of 58.42 %. Techno-economic analysis showed that levelized costs of electricity and product for the proposed system were as low as 148.92 $/MW_h and 348.37 $/t, respectively. Therefore, the proposed system has considerable potential for the co-generation of electricity and methanol.</p>
<p><em><strong>Zhihui Wang, Nan He, Qicheng Chen, Yingjin Zhang, Liang Yao, Co-generation of methanol and electricity using integrated concentrated solar power, calcium looping, and methane bi-reforming: Energy, exergy and economic analyses, Energy Conversion and Management, Volume 327, 2025, 119585, ISSN 0196-8904, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2025.119585" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2025.119585</a></strong></em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.solarpaces.org/published-at-energy-conversion-and-management-co-generation-of-methanol-and-electricity-using-integrated-concentrated-solar-power-calcium-looping-and-methane-bi-reforming-energy-exergy-and-econo/">Published at Energy Conversion and Management &#8211; Co-generation of methanol and electricity using integrated concentrated solar power, calcium looping, and methane bi-reforming: Energy, exergy and economic analyses</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.solarpaces.org">SolarPACES</a>.</p>