Production of chemicals from syngas: an enviro-economic model-based investigation

Abstract Syngas has traditionally been derived from fossil fuels, but alternative production routes have attracted significant interest recently, such as syngas from biomass gasification, electrolysis of water, or electrocatalytic reduction of CO2. The composition of the produced syngas can vary drastically, in addition to presenting large price differences. The main contribution of this paper is a systematic, model-based comparison of three syngas conversion technologies, namely methanol, DME and Fisher-Tropsch syntheses, for a range of syngas compositions. The key performance indicators in this comparison are the breakeven price of syngas, the carbon efficiency, and the energy return on energy investment. The results suggest that DME synthesis is the most promising technology both economically and in terms of carbon efficiency, while methanol synthesis presents the best energy efficiency.