Modeling Analysis of a Polygeneration Plant Using a CeO2/Ce2O3 Chemical Looping

In the current context of complexity between climate change, environmental sustainability, resource scarcity, and geopolitical aspects of energy resources, a polygenerative system with a circular approach is considered to generate energy (thermal, electrical, and fuel), contributing to the control of CO2 emissions. A plant for the multiple productions of electrical energy, thermal heat, DME, syngas, and methanol is discussed and analyzed, integrating a chemical cycle for CO2/H2O splitting driven using concentrated solar energy and biomethane. Two-stage chemical looping is the central part of the plant, operating with the CeO2/Ce2O3 redox couple and operating at 1.2 bar and 900 °C. The system is coupled to biomethane reforming. The chemical loop generates fuel for the plant’s secondary units: a DME synthesis and distillation unit and a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The DME synthesis and distillation unit are integrated with a biomethane reforming reactor powered by concentrated solar energy to produce syngas at 800 °C. The technical feasibility in terms of performance is presented in this paper, both with and without solar irradiation, with the following results, respectively: overall efficiencies of 62.56% and 59.08%, electricity production of 6.17 MWe and 28.96 MWe, and heat production of 111.97 MWt and 35.82 MWt. The fuel production, which occurs only at high irradiance, is 0.71 kg/s methanol, 6.18 kg/s DME, and 19.68 kg/s for the syngas. The increase in plant productivity is studied by decoupling the operation of the chemical looping with a biomethane reformer from intermittent solar energy using the heat from the SOFC unit.