Economic Analysis of the Power to Methane Process Using a High Temperature Molten Carbonates Electrolyzer

Abstract

Power to Gas is a promising technology capable of resolving two main issues. This approach addresses the need for energy storage associated with renewable energy integration in the power grid. Besides, it can potentially be a viable technique for sequestration and re-using the captured CO2 as synthetic fuels. The overall process is currently being studied using different types of electrolyzers. This work focuses on the Power to Methane technology, which employs a high-temperature Molten Carbonates Electrolyzer (MCEC). Its purpose is to investigate the economic feasibility of the overall methane production process. A rigorous parametric analysis is performed for this objective by developing a VBA Excel code to have a better understanding of the cost drivers of methane production cost. This study revealed that this process might be economically competitive with other technologies if the operating costs are low (20-40 €/t CO2 and 20-80 €/MWh electricity cost), the cell cost is below 3,000 €/kW, and the operating hours are higher than 5,000 h/y. The vision for the future on these targets appears optimistic in terms of operating cost; nevertheless, there are still some challenges due to a lack of the cell cost forecast in the upcoming years.