Stranded Gas Valorization: A Technoeconomic and Environmental Analysis on M2X Energy’s Reformer Technology

Fox, Ethan

Student Work

Stranded Gas Valorization: A Technoeconomic and Environmental Analysis on M2X Energy’s Reformer Technology

Público Deposited

Greenhouse gasses, normally flared after being harvested alongside oil as associated gas, are fed to a scalable and modular reformer technology by M2X Energy to produce crude methanol primarily for energy production with the goal of reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuel harvesting while increasing profitability. This study aims to economically and environmentally analyze M2X Energy’s novel gas-to-methanol reformer when deployed to all flare sites across the United States. This analysis was accomplished by calculating the NPV of several flare sites, completing a sensitivity analysis, and calculating CO2 abatement costs to determine the continued investment into this technology. An orthodromic distance model was also compared to true transportation distances to measure its accuracy. Results show that most flare sites have a positive net annual profit, and their technology has more affordable abatement costs than several existing technologies for energy production. These results suggest that M2X’s reformer technology is profitable as well as affordable in reducing carbon emissions. Future work may include calculating the NPV for all flare sites, and applying this technology to methane-producing landfills.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator