The technology for synthesizing methanol from carbon dioxide helps turn wind-powered hydrogen production from a dream into reality

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Yahua Consulting: CO2-to-methanol technology helps turn wind-powered hydrogen production from a dream into reality. February 23, 2016. While China continues to set new records in wind power installations, the problem of curtailed wind power generation is becoming increasingly severe. **According to data from the Energy Administration, in 2015 China added 32.97 million kilowatts of new wind power capacity; the total installed capacity connected to the grid reached 129 million kilowatts. Wind power generated 186.3 billion kWh of electricity, accounting for 3.3% of the total electricity production. Throughout 2015, the amount of wind power curtailed reached 33.9 billion kWh, with an average curtailment rate of 15%. In 2015, the average annual utilization hours for wind power across the country were 1,728 hours, a decrease of 172 hours compared to the previous year. To address the issues of wind power curtailment and to enhance the investment returns from wind energy, professionals in China’s energy and chemical industries have proposed a series of solutions. Among these, wind-powered water electrolysis for hydrogen production is one of the key areas under discussion. In December 2015, the Paris Agreement was officially adopted, and it has become an inevitable trend for the world to work toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Developing large-scale wind-powered hydrogen production projects in the Northwest region, where wind curtailment is most severe, can reduce carbon emissions from the coal chemical and petrochemical industries, bringing both social and economic benefits. However, it has been 5 years since the concept of wind-powered hydrogen production was proposed, yet no demonstration projects have been built to date. Research by YH Consulting shows that the following two major contradictions hinder the realization of large-scale wind power-based hydrogen production projects. 1. The conflict between the long-term stable operation of coal and petrochemical industries and the instability of wind power generation. In 2015, the region with the highest wind power utilization hours nationwide was Fujian, at 2,658 hours; the region with the lowest utilization hours was Gansu, at 1,184 hours. In other words, even in Fujian, wind turbines remain inactive 70% of the time. Large-scale chemical production requires a stable supply of raw materials and cannot tolerate frequent fluctuations in hydrogen supply. 2. The contradiction between the decentralized distribution of wind power generation and the centralized utilization in large-scale chemical production. The demand for hydrogen in large-scale chemical plants is enormous; in recent years, the capacity of coal-based hydrogen production facilities at refineries has ranged from 60,000 to 200,000 cubic meters per hour. A typical 50-megawatt wind farm produces hydrogen through wind power curtailment at a rate of 14.8%, resulting in an annual hydrogen output of 3.6 million cubic meters, which is equivalent to 450 cubic meters per hour. It would take wind-to-hydrogen conversion at 130 wind farms to meet the needs of a small oil refinery; moreover, the transportation of hydrogen poses a difficult problem to solve. Carbon Recycling International (CRI) was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. CRI built and operated the world’s first facility for synthesizing methanol from carbon dioxide and hydrogen; the methanol production capacity was 1,300 tons in 2012, and it increased to 4,000 tons in 2014. Contact number of CRI China Representative Office: +86-21-62536070 * 8028. Yahua Consulting believes that the development and utilization of the technology for hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to produce methanol will make wind power-based hydrogen production a reality, for the following reasons. 1. The scale of methanol production from carbon dioxide hydrogenation is flexible. The aforementioned typical wind farm can produce 3.6 million cubic meters of hydrogen per year through wind curtailment, which is sufficient to produce 2,500 tons of methanol annually. This scale is comparable to that of the Icelandic demonstration plant. 2. Methanol production plants on the order of several thousand tons can operate stably with only small-scale hydrogen storage and buffering systems. 3. As a liquid chemical, methanol is already widely produced and used in northwestern China, offering substantial market potential. 4. A large number of coal chemical projects in the northwest region generate high-concentration CO2 in the syngas purification stage, which can provide a cheap source of CO2. 5. In the future, if hydrogen and methanol production units can be made skid-mounted, they can also be flexibly deployed between wind farms. During periods of severe wind curtailment, hydrogen and methanol production facilities are mobilized to produce more methanol. If wind curtailment is not severe, or if the conditions for feeding wind power into the grid in a region improve, the production facilities can be transferred to wind farms that have a greater need for them. http://www.chinacoalchem.com/news.asp?id=60794