Techno-economic Study and Environmental Analysis for the Production of Bio-methanol Using a Solar-aided Dual-bed Gasifier

Abstract The study aimed to evaluate the effect utilizing solar energy as the heat source for gasification reactions during the production of methanol from corn stover. For this purpose, two biorefinery scenarios were modelled: a standalone scenario where gasification was performed in a conventional dual-bed gasifier, and a solar-aided scenario where solar energy was used to drive the gasification reactions. In the solar-aided scenario, biochar was exported as a co-product rather than combusted. Results obtained revealed that the incorporation of solar energy could enhance the net gasification efficiency by 10 to 24%, depending on the biomass moisture content. Also, the biorefinery energy conversion efficiency was found to be 48% for the standalone scenario and 61% for the solar-aided scenario. Moreover, the export of biochar as a co-product resulted in a 35% decrease in potential environmental impact. Furthermore, the methanol production costs could be 13.35 $/GJ for the standalone scenario and 21.29 $/GJ for the solar-aided scenario. While the minimum biochar selling price was estimated to be 13.04 $/GJ. These results suggest that the adoption of solar-aided gasification could be one way to advance the circular bioeconomy concept, where lignocellulose is used to produce not only fuels but also bio-products capable of gradually substituting fossil-based alternatives.