Development and analysis of an integrated photovoltaic system for hydrogen and methanol production

A solar based integrated system for hydrogen and methanol production is investigated. Energy and exergy analyses of a hydrogen production plant, thermodynamic assessment of a methanol synthesis plant, and exergy analysis of the integrated solar based system for hydrogen and methanol production, are performed. The analysis of hydrogen production is performed for the methanol synthesis procedure. The present analysis shows the effects of temperature and current density of the electrolyser on hydrogen production. The optimum temperature of methanol synthesis is obtained for the final design of the methanol plant. It is shown that increasing the pressure improves the methanol synthesis process. Methanol conversion takes place at 493 K. The energy and exergy efficiencies of the system are reduced by 30% if the electrolyser operates at 300 K. The efficiencies of the system are also highly dependent on the solar intensity. The system efficiencies can be tripled if the intensity of solar radiation is increased to 600 W/m2 instead of 250 W/m2.