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Methanation catalytic reactor

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DOI: 10.1016/j.crci.2014.01.016

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 Energy 75 (2014) 81e88

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Modeling and simulation of CO methanation process for renewable

electricity storage
^ Er-rbib, Chakib Bouallou*
Hanaa
MINES ParisTech, CES e Centre Efcacit
eenerg
etique des Syst
emes, 60, Bd Saint-Michel, 75006 Paris, France

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, a new approach of converting renewable electricity into methane via syngas (a mixture of
Received 9 January 2014 CO and H2) and CO methanation is presented. Surplus of electricity is used to electrolyze H2O and CO2 to
Received in revised form H2 and CO by using a SOEC (Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell). Syngas produced is then converted into
26 May 2014
methane. When high consumption peaks appear, methane is used to produce electricity. The main
Accepted 29 May 2014
conversion step in this process is CO methanation. A modeling of catalytic xed bed methanation reactor
Available online 16 August 2014
and a design of methanation unit composed of multistage adiabatic reactors are carried out using Aspen
plus software. The model was validated by comparing the simulated results of gas composition (CH4,
Keywords:
CO methanation
CO, CO2 and H2) with industrial data. In addition, the effects of recycle ratio on adiabatic reactor stages,
Modeling outlet temperature, and H2 and CO conversions are carefully investigated. It is found that for storing
Multistage adiabatic reactors 10 MW of renewable electricity, methanation unit is composed of three adiabatic reactors with recycle
Renewable electricity storage loop and intermediate cooling at 553 K and 1.5 MPa. The methanation unit generates 3778.6 kg/h of
steam at 523.2 K and 1 MPa (13.67 MW).
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction integrating renewable power with the electricity grid, increase

The climate change has been caused by anthropogenic activities
like excessive combustion of fossil fuels, industrial processes,
deforestation and GHG (greenhouse gases) released into the at-
mosphere [1]. Potential policies, legislation, and regulation are
expected to have an impact on the way, energy is generated,
delivered, and used, whether by specic measures or through
pricing incentives or disincentives [2]. Therefore, it is imperative to
develop and promote alternative sources of energy that can lead to
sustainability of energy and the environment system. Indeed,
renewable electricity contributes to global sustainability through
GHG reduction [3].
However, many renewable sources of energy, such as wind po-
wer and solar energy provide energy in a uctuating manner [4].
EES (Electrical energy storage) is one solution. EES can potentially
smooth the variability in power ow from renewable generation
and store renewable energy in order to decrease the cost of
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: hanae.errbib@gmail.com (H. Er-rbib), chakib.bouallou@mines-
paristech.fr (C. Bouallou).
market penetration of renewable energy, and lead to GHG re-
ductions [5,6].
A new approach to seasonal storage of renewable energy is
based on using excess electricity produced from a renewable source
to co-electrolyze at high temperature (1073 K) steam and CO2 into
syngas via RSOC (Reversible Solid Oxide Cell) in SOEC (Solid Oxide
Electrolysis Cell) mode. The syngas produced (H2 CO) is fed into a
methanation reactor where it is converted into CH4. This gas is then
injected into the natural gas network [7]. When high consumption
peaks appear, the RSOC is switched to SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell)
mode fed by syngas. This latter is produced by tri-reforming of
methane. The global diagram of this process is described in Fig. 1
and detailed in the reference [8].
In this way, renewable electrical energy is stored as chemical
energy in existing storage capacities. Storage and power conversion
technologies for natural gas are state-of-the-art and commercial
unlike hydrogen technologies [9,10] . A further advantage for stor-
age is the higher energy density of methane. Besides conversion of
SNG (Synthetic Natural Gas) to electricity in large power plants, the
SNG can also be used in decentralized CHP (combined heat and
power) units or as a transportation fuel in the mobility sector [11].
The main conversion step in such process is the methanation.
The principle of catalytic synthetic production of methane from

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2014.05.115
0360-5442/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
82 H. Er-rbib, C. Bouallou / Energy 75 (2014) 81e88
carbon monoxide and hydrogen was discovered in 1902 by Sabatier
and Senderens [12]. It can be described by the CO methanation
reaction:
CO 3H2 4CH4 H2 O DH 206:28 kJ=mol (1)
Another reaction called WGS (Water Gas Shift) occurs simulta-
neously whenever active catalysts are used:
CO H2 O4CO2 H2 DH 41:16 kJ=mol (2)
The heterogeneously catalyzed methanation is important in two
main applications: Removal of traces of CO in hydrogen rich gases
for the ammonia synthesis and conversion of syngas to methane
rich fuel [13,14]. This reaction was performed on various catalysts:
Ruthenium (Ru), Rhodium (Rh), Platinum (Pt), Iron (Fe), Nickel (Ni)
and Cobalt (Co) [15]. Nickel catalyst is the most appropriate due to
its selectivity, activity and its price.
Unfortunately, the commercial deployment of technologies for
the production of SNG is constrained by economic and technical
barriers. The main issue of methanation is the strong exothermicity
of the methane formation reactions. The temperature increase may
cause catalyst sintering and possibly leads to carbon particle for-
mation [16]. One pilot plant was designed by Lurgi and Sasol in
Sasolburg (South Africa) and another pilot plant, developed by
Lurgi and El Paso Natural gas Corporation in Austria [17]. Based on
the results of lurgi and sasol, the rst and only commercial unit has
been developed in the USA (North Dakota) in 1984, producing 1.53
billion Nm3/y [12,18]. This process is composed of an isothermal
reactor and two adiabatic xed bed reactors with recycling [19].
The TREMP process (Topsoe's Recycle Energy-efcient Metha-
nation Process), was developed by Haldor Topsoe's laboratory. Due
to the unique MCR-2X methanation catalyst, TREMP can operate at
high temperature, up to 973 K. This catalyst allows reaction heat
recovery in the form of high pressure superheated steam and low
recycle ratio to ensure energy saving [20]. The CO methanation
takes place in adiabatic xed bed reactors. The reaction exother-
micity results in a high temperature increase. Recycling is used to
control this temperature rise in the rst methanation reactor. No
industrial facility has been developed because of the political
problems and the price of energy. However, within the last ve
years, the interest in substitute natural gas has become strong.
Efforts have been reinitiated in the technology, and the knowledge
gained over the years has been used to rene the tried and tested
technology and catalyst [21]. As a result, an updated version with
Fig. 1. Reversible power to gas process.
improved efciencies and lower investment cost is now being
offered to the market [22].
In Scotland, a demonstration plant (Westeld coal gasication
plant) was built producing 59 Million Nm3/d of SNG from coal. The
methanation unit composed of xed bed reactors with gas recycle
was added to an existing Lurgi-Rectisol purication unit [17]. A
further development of the British Gas Corporation was the HICOM
process in which shift and methanation are combined. The syngas
is passed through a series of xed bed reactors with recycling of
reacted gas and steam dilution [12,17].
All processes described above use xed bed reactors with
recycling the cooled product gas and/or adding steam to limit the
strong exothermicity of the reaction. Monitoring temperature in-
crease can be ensured by recycling of reacted gas or steam dilution,
or by special technologies such as isothermal reactors or uidized
beds, each with indirect cooling by evaporating water [20].
The aim of this study is to design a methanation unit for
renewable electricity storage. The methanation reactor model in-
corporates the catalytic reaction kinetics. The simulation results
will be compared with industrial data for model validation. Then,
adiabatic multistage reactors with intermediate cooling and recy-
cling will be designed. The calculation of the recycle ratio, the outlet
temperatures and the number of adiabatic reactors will be carefully
detailed.
2. Methodology
2.1. Catalytic xed bed reactor modeling
The methanation reactor model is implemented in Aspen plus
software. The used physical properties of the following compounds
are provided by Aspen Plus: Water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2),
methane (CH4), hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). For the
thermodynamic model, the RKSMHV2 property method based on
the Redlich e Kwong e Soave equation of state with modied
HuroneVidal mixing rules is used. This model is used for mixtures
of non-polar and polar compounds, in combination with light gases
[23]. All the binary interaction parameter values needed for this
model were provided by Aspen Plus library.
The kinetic models used in this paper is that of Kopyscinski [17]
over a commercial catalyst Ni/Al2O3 (50 wt% Ni/Al2O3, BET surface
area 183 m2/g) in xed bed reactor (Eqs. (3) and (4) in which
pressures are expressed in bar and temperature in K). The reactor is
 H. Er-rbib, C. Bouallou / Energy 75 (2014) 81e88 83

modeled as a PFR (Plug Flow Reactor) in steady state conditions. However, the model as shown by Eqs. (3) and (4) could not be
Axial heat and mass transfer are assumed to be negligible. directly implemented in Aspen plus because this latter is not
For CO methanation reaction: adapted to the present kind of equations. Therefore, in order to
adjust the kinetic model, the equations of equilibrium and
0:5 $P 0:5
k1 $Kc$PCO H2    adsorption constants were modied to meet Aspen plus re-
Rmethanation
2 mol kgcatalyseur $s quirements. The rearranged kinetic model is shown in Eqs. (9), (10)
1KC $PCO
0:5 K 0:5
OH $PH2 O $PH2 and (11) where the pressure is expressed in Pa and the temperature
(3) in K.
Table 2 shows the parameter values for rearranged model.
For WGS reaction:
  k1  103 K1 PCO
0:5 P 0:5
H2   
PCO PH Rmethanation
2 kmol kgcatalyseur $s
k2 Ka PCO PH2 O  K2eq 2 0:5
   1 K1 PCO K2 PH2 O PH2
0:5
RWGS
2 mol kgcatalyseur $s
0:5 $ 1 K $P 0:5 K 0:5 (9)
PH2
C CO OH $PH2 O $PH2

(4)

k2  103 K3 PCO PH2 O PH
0:5  K P
2 4 CO2
PH
0:5
2
The rate and adsorption constants are dened as a function of RWGS
2
temperature following the Arrhenius and Vant Hoff equations 0:5 0:5
1 K1 PCO K2 PH2 O PH2
respectively (Eqs. (5) and (6)). Pre-exponential factors of the kinetic (10)
rate and adsorption coefcients as well as the corresponding acti-   
vation energies and adsorption heats were taken from Kopyscinski  kmol kgcatalyseur $s
[17]. The thermodynamic equilibrium constant of WGS reaction
(Eq. (7)) is given by Ref. [13].
  lnKi Ai Bi=T (11)
 E
ki ki exp  ai (5)
RT The present model is validated by comparing between the
simulated results and industrial data taken from the only reference
   in the open literature [19]. In this work, the methanation reactor
 DHRj T
Kj Kj exp (6) not only converts syngas to methane, but it also provides steam
RT needed for co-electrolysis and heating. This method allows
  increasing global efciency of the electricity storage process. In
4400 addition, the use of water as coolant helps control the temperature
Keq exp  4:063 (7)
T of the methanation process within the desired limits. This recog-
nizes the fact that the paramount function of existing methanation
where the subscript i denotes 1 and 2 and j represents C, OH and a systems is to convert syngas to acceptable quality synthetic natural
(Ka is a combination of the adsorption constants of CO, H2, CO2 and gas rather than to efciently extract energy from the process.
H2O or OH), Eai is the activation energy (J/mol), DHRj is the
adsorption heat of species j (J/mol), R is the ideal gas constant (J/
mol.K) and T is the reactor temperature (K). Parameters of Eqs. (5) 2.2. Multistage adiabatic reactors design
and (6) are shown in Table 1.
This kinetic model is valid within a temperature range of A reactor operates adiabatically when no heat is gained or lost
[473e673] K. The pressure drop along the PFR reactor is calculated by the system. For an exothermic reaction carried out adiabatically,
by the Ergun momentum balance equation (Eq. (8)): temperature increases with reaction progress. In the catalytic
methanation reactor, a temperature increase can generate a ther-
mal runway and catalyst deactivation. To overcome this problem,
dP 1  2 m ug 1  ug r
150 1:75 (8) several methods are used such as: isothermal reactor, adiabatic
dZ 3 d2p 3 dp
reactor with recycling, uidized bed reactor and addition of steam
[17,20,21]. The benets of an adiabatic reactor are relatively the
where: P is the pressure (Pa), Z is the reactor length (m), ug is the simple equipment construction and the maintenance, which are
linear velocity of uid phase (m/s), m is the effectiveness factor used very important if small devices are being designed.
for the intra particle transport limitation, dp is the particle diameter In the present work, adiabatic multistage methanation reactors
(m), r is the density of catalyst bed (kg/m3) and is the void fraction with intermediate cooling have been designed with recycling at the
of the catalytic bed. rst reactor. Intermediate cooling is used to displace the gas tem-
perature in the direction of higher equilibrium conversion. This
Table 1
Parameter values for rate and adsorption constants.
 Table 2
k1 k1 3.34  106 Parameter values for rearranged model.
Ea1 74,000

k2 k2 9.62  1014 K1 A1 23.24
Ea2 161,740 B1 7355.77
3.97  107

KOH KOH K2 A2 20.49
DHR,OH 72,650 B2 8731.97

KC KC 8.1  106 K3 A3 19.64
DHR,C 61,200 B3 781.25
9.3  102

Ka Ka K4 A4 13.208
DHR,a 6500 B4 4400
84 H. Er-rbib, C. Bouallou / Energy 75 (2014) 81e88


temperature should be below the equilibrium temperature and where: DHR Methanation is the standard enthalpy of methanation
greater than catalyst activation one. In the case of exothermic reaction, Cpi is the molar specic heat of the corresponding species
methanation reaction, CO conversion decreases with increasing i. In an adiabatic process: W Q 0. Eq. (16) can be rewritten as:
temperature. A feasible adiabatic multistage reactor can thus be
derived from the equilibrium curve by joining straight-lines for the ZT X
adiabatic reaction to vertical lines for the temperature reduction FCO;0 qi CPi dT  FCO;0 XCO
due to indirect intermediate cooling (see Fig. 2). TR
Equilibrium curve which represents CO conversion as a function 2 3
ZT
of the gas temperature is calculated by using minimization of Gibbs 6  7
 4DHR Methanation DCp dT 5 0
energy method in Aspen plus software. This method is detailed in
the reference [24]. The calculation of the adiabatic straight-line TR
slope is based on the energy balance (Eq.(12)). (17)
Xn Xn It can be deduced from Eq. (17) the correlation between CO
Q W F H
i1 i0 i0
 FH
i1 i i
0 (12) conversion and temperature:
Z T Xn
Fi and Hi can be presented by Eqs. (13) and (15) respectively:
q C dT
i1 i Pi
TR
Fi FCO;0 qi  yi XCO (13) XCO 2 3 (18)
Z T
6  7
4DHR TR DCp dT 5
Fi TR
qi (14)
FCO;0

where: DHR Methanation is dened by Eq. (19) as follows:
ZT      
DHR Methanation DH CH4 DH H2 O  DH CO  3
Hi Cpi dT (15)   
 DH H2 J=mol
TR
(19)
where for a corresponding species i (CO, CO2, H2O, H2 and CH4), yi is
The molar specic heats are calculated using the correlation
the stoichiometric coefcient, Fi0 is the initial molar ow, Fi is the
below [25]:
molar ow, Hi0 is the standard enthalpy, Hi is the sensible enthalpy,
XCO is the CO conversion, TR is the reference temperature  
CPi CPA CPB T CPC T 2 CPD T 3 J=mol:K (20)
(TR 298.15 K) and T is the operating temperature.
By substituting Eqs. (13) and (15) into Eq. (12), this latter could Table 3 lists the specic heat constants for each component.
RT
be arranged to a simplied form as follows: In most cases, the last term of the denominator TR DCp dT is
negligible compared to the reaction enthalpy. In order to simplify
ZT X the calculations, an average heat capacity C g is dened in the
P1
Q  W FCO;0 qi CPi dT  FCO;0 XCO reaction temperature range [T0T], where T0 is the reactor inlet
temperature. Eq. (18) can be rewritten as:
TR
2 3 (16)
ZT Pn g
6  7 i1 qi CP1
T  T0
 4DHR Methanation DCp dT 5 0 XCO  (21)
 DHR Methanation
TR
Eq. (21) represents the adiabatic straight-line. These calcula-
tions were carried out by Excel and then compared with Aspen
plus results.

2.3. Recycle loop

Due to the high exothermic aspect of the methanation reactions,

the temperature will increase signicantly in adiabatic systems.
Consequently, the thermodynamic equilibrium is readily reached
but with only limited conversion. To achieve high conversions, the
temperature must be decreased by diluting the inlet gas. Typically,
this is achieved by recycling the gas product. The recycle ratio of gas

Table 3
Specic heat constants for each component.

Component CPA CPB CPC CPD

CO 3.087  101 1.285  102 2.789  105 1.272  108

CO2 1.980  101 7.344  102 5.602  105 1.715  108
H2O 3.224  101 1.924  103 1.055  105 3.596  109
H2 2.714  101 9.274  103 1.381  105 7.645  109
CH4 1.925  101 5.213  102 1.197  105 1.132  108
Fig. 2. CO conversion as a function of temperature.
 H. Er-rbib, C. Bouallou / Energy 75 (2014) 81e88 85

product would be controlled in an appropriate range [0.5e3] [26]. 1R

XCO_OUT  XCO 1 (29)
Indeed, a recycle ratio greater than 3 leads to a relatively large ow R
rate of CH4 at the feed gas which may cause coke deposition, mainly
due to the methane cracking. In addition, high recycle ratio requires
3. Results and discussion
compression and increased volumetric ow in the rst methana-
tion step. Compressors are the expensive items of equipment since
3.1. Validation of methanation catalytic reactor model
they require power, special housing and maintenance [21]. Thus, it
is recommended to design a methanation unit with recycle loop
In order to validate the proposed model, a comparison of in-
that operates at pressures above 1.5 MPa in order to increase CH4
dustrial data taken from a technical report [19] with the simulated
yield and avoid catalyst deactivation.
results using the present model was performed. Reactor di-
The recycle ratio R is dened as molar ow rate ratio between
mensions, catalyst specication, operating conditions and the mass
the recycled gas and the stream leaving the system. For the
ow of the components at the reactor input (Table 4) are adopted
component CO the recycle ratio is: R FR/FOUT (see Fig. 3).
from the only reference in the open literature [19].
The inlet ow rate FIN, the outlet ow rate FOUT1, and the recycle
As shown in Table 5, a good agreement is observed between the
ratio R (ranging from 0 to 3) could be known. The unknown pa-
industrial data and those obtained by the present model. The
rameters namely: FR, FOUT, XCO_1, FIN1 and XCO_OUT can be dened
maximum relative error is 12%. This nding is in accordance with a
based on material balance at inlet and outlet of the recycle loop as
previous work [7].
follows:

- Material balance at the loop outlet 3.2. Inuence of recycle loop on adiabatic reactor stages and
reactor outlet temperatures

FOUT1 FOUT FR (22) In the present work, 10 MW of renewable electricity has been
Based on recycle ratio expression: FR FOUT  R, FOUT1 can be stored as synthesis gas by using high temperature co-electrolysis.
rewritten as: The outlet ow rate of co-electrolysis is fed to the condenser to
remove water. The dry stream is then compressed up to 1.5 MPa in
  1R order to feed methanation unit. At low pressure, catalyst can be
FOUT1 FOUT FOUT  R 1 R FOUT FR (23) deactivated by coke deposition for a temperature above 673 K. It is
R
therefore, necessary to increase the pressure. According to Guao
et al. [26], above 1.5 MPa, there is no risk of catalyst deactivation.
R The gas composition and the operating conditions at the inlet of the
FR F (24)
1 R OUT1 methanation unit are illustrated in Table 6:
Under these conditions, the number of adiabatic reactor is
calculated. Fig. 4 shows the CO conversion as a function of the
- Material balance at the loop inlet
temperature. The adiabatic straight-lines appear clearly on this
gure. The number of adiabatic reactors is determined graphically.
FIN1 FIN FR FIN R  FOUT (25) In Fig. 4, the evolution of the CO conversion is illustrated for ve
methanation reactors as well as the adiabatic temperature effect.
The ow rate in the reactor is (1 R) times greater than the
Each diagonal line represents an adiabatic reactor, and each hori-
outlet loop (Eq. (23)). Thus, the ow rate FIN should be multiplied by
zontal line represents an intermediate cooling. The initial CO ow is
(1R) (Eq. (26)).
38.53 kmol/h and the inlet temperature of the rst methanation
    reactor R1 is 553 K. In the rst reactor, the CO conversion increases
FIN1 1 R FIN 1  XCO 1 (26) to 0.3, which is accompanied by an adiabatic temperature increase
CO conversion XCO_1 can be dened by substituting FIN1 (Eq.(25)) of 827 K (outlet temperature is 1107 K). The rst cooler cools the gas
into Eq. (26): to 553 K. The same approach is repeated for the reactors R2, R3, and
R4. At the exit of the fth reactor, the CO conversion reaches 99%.
It should be noted that the adiabatic temperature is very high,
FR FIN
XCO 1 1 (27) which requires a high-temperature stable catalyst. However, this is
FIN 1 R
unfeasible due to challenges represented by material selection and
In order to dene XCO_OUT, the ow rate FIN1 should be expressed
in term of the CO conversion: Table 4
Reactor dimensions and operating conditions.

1 RFIN 1  XCO 1 FIN R  FIN 1  XCO_OUT (28) Length (m) 10.57

Inner diameter (m) 2.44
Then XCO_OUT can be written as: Outside diameter (m) 2.64
Number of tube 336
Tube diameter (m) ID 0.092, OD 0.102
Tube length (m) 6.86
Catalyst mass (kg) 1500
Temperature (K) 560.77
Pressure (MPa) 6.2
Mass ow (kg/h)
CH4 33021.16
H2 5120.60
CO 17362.70
CO2 8989.02
H2O 24841.53
Fig. 3. Recycle loop at the rst methanation reactor.
86 H. Er-rbib, C. Bouallou / Energy 75 (2014) 81e88

Table 5 Table 7
Simulation results compared with industrial data. Recycle ratio effects on the number of adiabatic reactors and CO conversion.

Compounds Industrial process Our simulation Relative Recycle ratio (R) Number of adiabatic reactors
(Davis, 1981) results error (%)
0 5
Mass ow at the Mass ow at the 0.6 4
reactor outlet (kg/h) reactor outlet (kg/h) 1.4 3
2.2 3
CH4 41913.02 42283.86 0.9%
2.6 3
H2 1286.75 1135.22 11.8%
3 3
CO2 6637.6 5931.11 10.6%
CO 312.98 275.42 12.0%
H2O 39184.94 3,918,494 1.9%

the outlet temperature and the number of adiabatic reactors

Table 6 respectively.
Gas composition and operating conditions at the inlet of the methanation unit. As shown in Fig. 5, an increase in the recycle ratio leads to a
Molar ow rate (kmol/h) CH4 0
decrease in the outlet gas temperature followed by an increase in
H2 117.25 the CO conversion. Whereas, the number of adiabatic reactors de-
CO2 11.86 creases as illustrated in Table 7. Indeed, methanation reaction is
CO 38.53 exothermic, thus H2 and CO conversions and CH4 yield increase
H2O 4.31
while decreasing temperature. Furthermore, above recycle ratio of
Total mass ow (kg/h) 1915.49
Temperature (K) 553 2.2, the maximum of CO conversion (99%) is reached with a mini-
Pressure (MPa) 1.5 mum of adiabatic reactors.

3.3. Methanation unit simulation by using Aspen plus software

In renewable electricity storage process, the molar fraction of H2

Fig. 4. CO conversion as a function of the temperature and the adiabatic straight-line.
insufcient catalyst activity. In addition, to convert 99% of CO, ve
reactors are used. In order to decrease the outlet temperature and
the number of adiabatic reactors, recycle loop is needed. Fig. 5 and
Table 7 show the inuence of recycle ratio ranging from 0.5 to 3 on
should be less than 6% in order to meet the specications of gas
network [27]. Therefore, it is important to dene the recycle ratio
that allows converting the maximum of H2. Fig. 6 shows H2 and CO
conversions as a function of recycle ratio.
As shown in Fig. 6, by increasing the recycle ratio, CO and H2
conversions increase. At a recycle ratio equal to 3, the CO and H2
conversions reach a maximum of 99% and 97% respectively while
the outlet temperature at the rst reactor decreases to 910 K. Fig. 7
shows methanation unit owsheet implemented in Aspen plus. It
consists of three adiabatic reactors (R01, R02, R03) with recycle
loop (R 3) and an intermediate cooling (T 553 K). This result is
in accordance with the work of Davis and Martin [10].
Table 8 shows the Aspen simulation results for 10 MW storage of
renewable electricity. The gas produced is composed of 40% of CH4,
3% of H2, 13% of CO2, 0.06% of CO and 44% of H2O. The methanation
unit generates by intermediate cooling 3778.6 kg/h of steam at
523.2 K and 1 MPa. 64% of this steam is used in the co-electrolysis,
16.51% in the CO2 capture and the TEG absorption units and the
remaining for heating. Furthermore, methane is a potential source

Fig. 5. Recycle ratio effect on the outlet temperature. Fig. 6. Recycle ratio effect on H2 and CO conversions.
 H. Er-rbib, C. Bouallou / Energy 75 (2014) 81e88 87

Fig. 7. Methanation unit owsheet in Aspen plus.

Table 8 carbone
et De s (SEED) Program (project DEMETER) ref. ANR-11-
Results of methanation unit simulation. SEED-0005-02.
R01 outlet R02 outlet R03 outlet

Molar ow rate (kmol/h) CH4 27.28 31.63 33.61 References

H2 23.38 9.83 2.60
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H2O 29.03 33.88 37.15 [2] NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory). Renewable electricity futures
Temperature calculated 909.4 786.2 654.2 study; 2012 (Entire Report). Available from: www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/
by Aspen plus (K) 52409-1.pdf [accessed 24.01.13].
Temperature calculated 910.2 788.2 648.2 [3] Van-dal ES, Bouallou C. CO2 abatement through a methanol production pro-
by Excel (K) cess. Chem Eng Trans 2012;29:463e8.
 
[4] Cu cek L, Varbanov PS, Klemes JJ, Kravanja Z. Potential of total site process
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