3E analysis of a solar driven CO₂ (dry) reforming of CH₄ process based on photothermal synergistic catalysis

The emission reduction of CO₂ and CH₄ (as the main components of greenhouse gases) is an effective means to deal with the energy crisis and global climate change. Among the existing methods, CO₂ (dry) reforming of CH₄ (DRM) is a promising choice. Solar-driven photothermal catalysis (PTC) is a more efficient catalytic method proposed in recent years. However, this technology is industrially immature. To explore the advantages of this catalytic method, this paper establishes a complete solar-driven PTC-DRM reaction and separation process based on the photothermal catalytic reaction mechanism, and builds a framework covering the reaction-separation chain to conduct a comprehensive comparison between PTC and traditional thermal catalysis (TC) processes. The research found that theoretical energy consumption of PTC-DRM (6293.41 kW) is higher than that of TC-DRM (4693.02 kW). However, considering the renewable and infinite features of solar energy, actual energy consumption per unit product of PTC-DRM (12.7 kJ/kg product) was much lower than that of TC-DRM (99.56 kJ/kg product). Meanwhile, PTC-DRM has more advantages in environmental protection. The carbon emission of PTC-DRM is 0.79 t/t product, which is lower than that of TC (1.44 t/t product). In addition, it is found that the main factor influencing the cost of PTC-DRM is the price of liquid nitrogen. And PTC has greater economic advantages than TC in the reaction and separation processes. This paper models and analyzes the PTC-DRM technology, providing theoretical support for the application of photothermal synergistic technology.