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Both e-methanol and hybrid methanol production can balance the energy systems storing variable wind and solar power and reduce emissions by replacing fossil methanol production. It is expected that hybrid methanol production using additional hydrogen from water electrolysis supplemented with purified product gas from biomass gasification will increase methanol yield and result in lower production costs compared to e-methanol, particularly when using power sources that are not only available all the time during the year. In this article hybrid methanol production with varying hydrogen input from the water electrolysis, e-methanol and biomass gasification-based methanol are evaluated from a techno-economic point of view as a function of key variables. Material and energy balances are estimated using a simulation model in IPSEpro. A key finding is the effect of the hydrogen input on the efficiency and cost of the hybrid process. Converting CO 2 will increase product yield by 101% and only CO by 38.1% compared to biomass-to-methanol production. Additionally, the results show better economics for hybrid methanol production compared to e-methanol >10–12 €/MWh electricity prices at 100 kt methanol production scale and <30–35 €/MWh electricity prices better economics than biomass to methanol with a biomass input of 70 MW. • The hybrid process studied utilised only CO or both CO and CO2. • Compared to biomass to methanol case the methanol yield increased 38–101%. • Compared to biomass to methanol case the carbon yield increased from 38.1% to 89.9%. • The production could use a flexible amount of electricity balancing energy systems. • A production cost of 460 €/ton was estimated for 100 kt annual methanol production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methanol is an important chemical product with wide application. Due to the high pollutant emission of coal-to-methanol route, feeding mixed raw material of biomass and coal is seen as a promising measure of improvement. More than just focusing on co-gasification unit, this study performs a full process simulation from co-gasification to methanol and cogeneration, aiming at revealing the impact of biomass on process operation and optimizing the key operating parameters. The simulation results imply that coal and biomass co-gasification can improve the utilization of raw materials with more effective gas produced. As an example, the process based on the co-gasification of bituminous coal and straw is specially studied and telling the best operating situation of the whole process. The gasification agent and the critical effects of crude syngas split ratio (SR) and unreacted gas recycle ratio (CR) on the net methanol yield are fully discussed to gain insight into the process. The simulation results show that when the ratio of biomass to coal is 1:1, gasification agent is water steam, SR = 0.36, CR = 0.8, the net methanol production can reach a maximum of 7022.32 kg/h, 241.51% higher than that of merely using coal, producing 37.68% less CO 2 than merely using coal. • Full simulation of biomass and coal to methanol and cogeneration is performed. • Effects of factors on syngas components and net methanol yield are analyzed. • Side reactions are considered in methanol synthesis process. • Combined heat and power process is integrated with production process. • CO 2 emission reduces by 37.68% in co-gasification to methanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]