Renewable energy and raw materials – The thermodynamic support

Abstract The energy and raw material supplies are crucial issues in our societies. The possible solution of these issues can be coupled with the storage alternatives of renewable energy. The chemical way of energy storage can be quite different but we follow the Supplement of Natural Gas concept since this delivers a high storage capacity solution. The chemical way of energy storage is based on the carbon dioxide hydrogenation. It is in agreement with the theory of the circular economy so that the carbon emission is reduced with the concept of Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU). In this work the reaction system of the carbon dioxide hydrogenation is studied thermodynamically applying the tool of quantum chemistry. The aim of the study is to support the carbon dioxide transformation alternatives of industrial scale, that is, the CCU. It is determined that the methane production has the highest thermodynamic efficiency where the methanol production is the second in the ranking. These thermodynamic efficiencies are 14.4% for methanol and 44.4% for methane. Both alternatives have, however, advantages since the methane can be introduced directly into the natural gas network and the methanol has the highest volumetric energy content. Both molecules can be transformed into different kind of raw materials, see e.g. methanol economy. At the selection, however, other, practical points of view should be also considered where industrial experiences and circumstances are to be also taken into account. Having recognized the need to deal with the reduction and utilization of carbon dioxide emission (CCU), the University of Miskolc established the “Environmental Carbon Dioxide Partnership”. It has several industrial partners having significant carbon dioxide emission and therefore experience in this issue. The experts of the partnership help to solve emission problems and the carbon dioxide utilization, based on the theoretical and practical results and experiences of the Partnership. This thermodynamic investigation supports the development of the Partnership to carry out the most efficient CCU method.