Techno-Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of a CCU Process Combining Calcium Looping CO2 Capture with Sorption Enhanced Methanation

Production of synthetic methane by CO2 from combustion flue gas and green hydrogen appears to be a good way to combine concepts of renewable energies, chemical storage and CO2 utilization. Recently, a novel reactor configuration was proposed for catalytic methanation, which combines the concept of sorption-enhanced methanation and chemical looping in dual interconnected fluidized bed systems. This configuration would ensure a good temperature control and low operating pressure. In this work, this innovative system layout for catalytic methane production, integrated with a calcium looping unit (CaL) for CO2 capture from a coal power plant flue gas and a water electrolyser sustained by renewable energy, was investigated in order to analyze the economic and environmental performance.