Techno-economic assessment framework for industrial CO$_2$ utilization in e-methanol synthesis: Integrating capture, liquefaction, storage and multi-modal transport

Achieving deep decarbonization in hard-to-abate sectors requires scalable low-carbon fuels derived from biogenic or air-captured CO$_2$. E-Methanol is a promising option, but its deployment depends on robust CO$_2$ value chains that integrate industrial emissions, conditioning, multi-modal transport and reliable supply of power. Despite progress in carbon capture research, integrated assessments combining real emitters, CO$_2$ logistics, storage design, downtime-driven oversizing and transport fleet operations remain unavailable, limiting accurate levelized cost prediction of e-fuel value chain. The study proposed a unified framework to evaluate the techno-economic feasibility of the overall CO$_2$-to-e-methanol chain, integrating capture, liquefaction, storage, different transport possibilities and final synthesis. Results show that CO$_2$ availability strongly determines feasible plant size, while transport mode significantly shapes logistics cost. E-methanol synthesis is the largest contributor, with the Portuguese cement scenario yielding 1111.3 €/t. Across the analysed scenarios, maritime transport usually delivers 51–60% lower cost than road transport. ... mehrThe framework supports rigorous planning of CCU-enabled e-fuel synthesis.