Techno-economic evaluation of the integrated polygeneration system of methanol, power and heat production from coke oven gas

This study aims to develop novel high energy-efficient and economically viable methanol production processes form coke oven gas. To pursue this goal, two process schemes for the coke oven gas utilization, namely a highly integrated polygeneration of methanol, power, and heat, are proposed. The optimal system configuration and operating conditions for maximizing methanol amount or the total energy production were identified through the development of rigorous process models. The capability of the proposed processes was analyzed with different criteria: energy efficiency, carbon balance and minimum selling price of the produced methanol. As a result, the energy efficiency of the proposed processes is analyzed to range from 53 to 71%, which are greatly improved compared to the base process (38%). An economic evaluation study revealed that the minimum selling price of the methanol of the proposed processes was 0.23–0.29 USD/kg, which are competitive with conventional methanol production processes.