Is methanol synthesis from co-gasification of olive pomace and petcoke economically feasible?

An economic assessment of methanol production from syngas obtained by co-gasification of petcoke and olive pomace was performed. This process was simulated with Aspen Plus® software. Net Price Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Payback period (PBP), break-even and minimum product sales price were the techno-economic parameters used for analyzing the economic viability of the project. Firstly, the influence of the blend in co-gasification was analysed to study possible synergies from an economic point of view. The financial results obtained confirmed that the higher the amount of olive pomace, the more financially feasible it was. In addition, a negative NPV was obtained when the petcoke content in the blends was higher than 50 wt%. Moreover, the influence of plant size on economic viability was also analysed. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was performed with respect to investment, sales price of methanol and methanol production, and the economic results were seen to be significantly affected by the price of methanol. To incorporate the potential risks of methanol price volatility, several Monte Carlo simulations were defined based on density forecasting for the methanol price for the time horizon of the life cycle of the plant. The main results indicated that it was highly probable the plant would be profitable despite the volatility in methanol prices.