How to make the production of methanol/DME “GREENER“—Integration of wind power with modern coal chemical industry

Abstract

The urgency and necessity of alternative fuels give an impetus to the development of modern coal chemical industry. Coal-based methanol/DME is the key element of this industry. Wind power, whose installed capacity increased at a rate of more than 100% in recent years, has the most developed technologies in renewable energy. However, there still exist many unsolved problems in wind power for on-grid utilization. A new integrated system which combines coal-based methanol/DME production with wind power is proposed in this paper. In this system, wind power is used to electrolyze water to produce H₂ and O₂. TheO₂ is fed to the gasifier as gasification agent. The H₂ is mixed with the CO-rich gas to adjust the H₂/CO to an appropriate ratio for methanol synthesis. In comparison with conventional coal-based methanol/DME system, the proposed system omits the expensive and energy-consuming ASU and greatly reduces the water gas shift process, which brings both advantages in the utilization of all raw materials and significant mitigation of CO₂ emission. This system will be attractive in the regions of China which have abundant wind and coal resources.