Comparative life cycle assessment and economic analysis of methanol/hydrogen production processes for fuel cell vehicles

The life cycle assessment (LCA) of hydrogen/methanol production processes connected with hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV) and methanol reformer-embedded fuel cell vehicle (MRFCV) are addressed. According to the scope definition of well-to-wheel and the four steps of LCA methodology, the ReCiPe endpoint score of the natural gas-fed methanol production process named by SC1MeOH is up to 2.06 kPt, which is higher than the natural gas-fed hydrogen production process called SC2H2 by 50.3%. The new biomethanol production process termed by SC3MeOH, which is a combination of anaerobic co-digestion, microalgae production process, and combined heat and power (CHP), is validated to reduce the environmental impact of SC1MeOH by 93.6% due to wheat straw (waste) and microalgae as inlet sources, almost zero air pollutants, 58% carbons stored in the soil of the wheatland, and no grid supply. A comparative LCA shows that the MRFCV connected with SC3MeOH is lower than the HFCV associated with SC2H2 by 40%. The Levelized cost of methanol (LCOM) for SC3MeOH (about 3.08USD/kgMeOH) is higher than SC1MeOH by 18.6%. These comparisons show that the MRFCV connected with SC3MeOH is an HFVC for green cars due to relatively low investments in storage facilities and transport and minimum environmental impacts. •Comparative life cycle assessment of four scenarios is addressed.•An integration of anaerobic codigestion and microalgae production units is presented.•Wheat straw and microalgae are feedstocks of the new biomethanol production process.•The new bioprocess reduces the environmental impact of the conventional fossil process by 93.6%.•The levelized cost of biomethanol is estimated about 3.08USD/kg MeOH.