Power-to-Methane: Heat Integration and Techno-Economic Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52825/isec.v2i.3367Keywords:
Power-to-Methane, Heat Integration, MINLP Superstructure Optimization, PEM ElectrolyzerAbstract
With increasing energy demand and a growing awareness of the effects of global warming of fossil fuels, integrating renewable energies (REs) into the energy mix has become essential. However, the main disadvantage of REs is the need for energy storage systems to compensate for their intermittency. Power-to-Methane storage system (PtM) is one of the possible solutions to reduce CO2 emissions and compensate for renewable fluctuations. This work models and analyzes a 15 MW Power-to-Methane plant that converts surplus renewable electricity into methane via Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysis and the Sabatier process. Since PtM's main problem is its low overall conversion efficiency, a Python-based heat exchanger network optimization tool (HEN) was developed to improve energy recovery. A techno-economic analysis (TEA) is also carried out, and the results show that optimizing HEN synthesis and waste heat recovery increases the overall efficiency by 2.30%, resulting in an overall efficiency of 51.10%, and reduces total system cost by 8.9 cents per kg of CH₄ produced.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Abdelkrim Benmehel, El Hassan Sebbar, Tarik Kousksou
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