Economical e-Methanol Production: Dynamic Modelling and Optimal Scheduling of Power-to-Methanol Plant

Primorac, Matej Vinko ; Versic, Marin

4. term

Energy Engineering, Master

2025

2025-05-28

103 pages

Power-to-methanol (PtMeOH) systems offer promising solutions for converting surplus renewable electricity into valuable energy carriers for hard-to-abate sectors. This work presents an integrated 50 MW PtMeOH production system with an annual demand of 25,000 tonnes of e-MeOH, addressing critical challenges such as high production costs and limited operational flexibility. Comprehensive steady-state and dynamic models were developed for all major components. A PEM electrolyser model was created in Simulink, capturing non-linear efficiency-load relationships varying from 76% at low loads to 67%. The methanol synthesis and distillation system was modelled using Aspen Tech, maintaining product specifications above 99.7% MeOH purity. System flexibility evaluation demonstrated that flexible operation (40--100% capacity) reduces e-MeOH production costs by 50 €/tonne compared to fixed-load operation. The system achieved 86% annual runtime with strategic partial load operation, minimising harmful start-stop cycles. Cost-effective optimisation determined optimal hourly schedules based on real electricity price data, achieving e-MeOH production cost of 1196.4 €/tonne. Economic analysis confirmed electrolyser costs dominate both CAPEX (90%) and OPEX (83%).

Power-to-X ; Power-to-Methanol ; PEM electrolyser ; e-methanol ; Methanol Synthesis ; Methanol Distillation ; Flexibility

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