Energy and exergy analysis of an integrated system with solar methane cracking and co-electrolysis of CO2/H2O for efficient carbon management.

In this paper, an integrated system is proposed for the production of turquoise hydrogen from methane cracking using solar energy. The produced hydrogen and carbon by-products are used in fuel cells to generate clean electricity. Syngas is produced through power generated via photovoltaics, using a solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC). The SOEC co-electrolyzes the exhaust CO 2 from the direct carbon fuel cell, along with H 2 O. The resulting syngas is subsequently converted into methanol. The system is modelled using Aspen Plus to obtain the thermodynamic evaluation. Mass, energy, entropy, and exergy balances are performed over the system's units. The energy and exergy efficiency of the subsystems is determined, with solar methane cracking system achieving energy and exergy efficiencies of 82.2% and 92.5%, respectively. The overall system produces methanol and generates 7.71 MW of electricity with the overall energy and exergy efficiencies of 40.6% and 37.5%, respectively. • Energy and exergy analysis of an integrated methane cracking system. • Carbon black by-product is used in a direct carbon fuel cell. • Produced CO 2 is co-electrolyzed with water to produce syngas. • Processes modelled on Aspen Plus to obtain thermodynamic evaluation. • The proposed system has an energy and exergy efficiency of 40.6% and 37.5%, respectively. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]