# Comparative Technoeconomic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of Emerging Reactive Carbon Capture-to-Methanol Pathways

## TL;DR

This study compares two new methods for making methanol from CO2, finding one is slightly cheaper and both are better for the environment than existing methods.

## Contribution

The paper introduces and compares two novel reactive carbon capture-to-methanol pathways with detailed techno-economic and life cycle assessments.

## Key findings

- The Direct RCC-to-MeOH pathway has a lower methanol production cost ($0.78/kg) than the Indirect RCC-to-CO pathway ($0.84/kg).
- Both pathways have lower carbon intensities (0.45–0.51 kg-CO2e/kg) compared to baseline e-MeOH (0.54 kg-CO2e/kg).
- The Indirect pathway requires syngas recompression, increasing its cost but offering potential benefits with lower catalyst and hydrogen needs.

## Abstract

Our group recently developed dual-function materials
(DFMs) and
reactive carbon capture (RCC) processes for the selective production
of methanol (MeOH) or CO, offering two novel and unique pathways for
MeOH production. This study conducted a comparative techno-economic
analysis (TEA) of the two RCC pathways from exhaust CO2: 1) a “Direct RCC-to-MeOH” pathway and 2) an “Indirect
RCC-to-CO” pathway followed by MeOH synthesis. The “Direct
RCC-to-MeOH” pathway produced a lower levelized cost of MeOH
(LCOM) at $0.78/kg, compared to $0.84/kg for the “Indirect
RCC-to-CO” pathway. The key difference is the need to recompress
the syngas from RCC before MeOH synthesis in “Indirect RCC-to-CO.”
Nonetheless, with reduced catalyst costs and hydrogen requirements
for “RCC-to-CO,” this pathway merits further study to
produce syngas rather than MeOH. Both pathways are comparable in LCOM
to baseline e-MeOH production from CO2 hydrogenation ($0.72/kg)
while having lower carbon intensities (0.45 and 0.51 kg-CO2e/kg vs 0.54 kg-CO2e/kg).