Electricity grid decarbonisation or green methanol fuel? A life-cycle modelling and analysis of today's transportation-power nexus
Electricity grid decarbonisation or green methanol fuel? A life-cycle modelling and analysis of today's transportation-power nexus
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114718
复制
发表时间：
2020-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
11.2
通讯作者：
Guillen-Gosalbez, Gonzalo
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Al-Qahtani, Amjad;Gonzalez-Garay, Andres;Guillen-Gosalbez, Gonzalo
由于其低碳足迹，从捕获的二氧化碳中提取的甲醇为汽油提供了一种更可持续的替代品，但它需要大量的可再生能源来替代电力组合的脱碳。从捕获的CO2和可再生能源生产的甲醇的技术经济和环境分析进行揭示运输电力的关系。所调查的方案不同，在如何使用无碳能源-风力发电-要么脱碳的电力组合或生产绿色甲醇，以取代传统的化石燃料。该评估是针对电力结构和汽油消费构成不同的六个国家进行的。这一全面评估的结果表明，目前，使用可再生能源和碳捕获和储存对电网进行脱碳将提供更大的环境效益，而不会导致直接经济成本的重大变化，与通过加氢生产甲醇相比。虽然如果混合燃料的碳强度降低，绿色甲醇变得更便宜，这种认识在未来可能会改变，但它突出表明，在评估替代燃料时需要考虑运输-电力关系，从而防止排放在其生命周期中从一个部门转移到另一个部门。
Methanol from captured CO2 provides a more sustainable alternative to gasoline due to its low carbon footprint, yet it requires a large amount of renewable energy that could be used instead to decarbonise the electricity mix. A techno-economic and environmental analysis of methanol produced from captured CO2 and renewable energy is conducted to shed light on the transportation-power nexus. The investigated scenarios differ in how the carbon-free energy source - electricity from wind - is used to either decarbonise the electricity mix or produce green methanol to displace conventional fossil fuels. The assessment is carried out for six countries that differ in the composition of their electricity mix and gasoline consumption. The results of this holistic assessment show that, at present, decarbonising the electricity grid using renewable energy sources and carbon capture and storage would offer greater environmental benefits, without incurring large changes in direct economic costs, compared to producing methanol from the hydrogenation of captured CO2. Though this insight might change in the future if the carbon intensity of the mix is reduced and green methanol becomes cheaper, it highlights the need to consider the transportation-power nexus in assessing alternative fuels and thereby prevent shifting of emissions from one sector to another over their life cycle.