Power to methane

Among all power-to-fuel pathways, power-to-methane is regarded as one of the most promising and efficient pathways for its numerous routes and applications besides being the most widely investigated. Power to methane is the simplest synthetic fuel production process that allows carbon utilisation. Its implementation on a large scale could allow a vast and immediate decarbonisation of several sectors of the society and provide storage services while keeping the current infrastructure and know-how of existing technologies. In this chapter, both chemical and biological methanation, including state of the art and literature studies, are presented in detail with their most important features and operational parameters. A comparison between different available technologies is carried out with an outlook on power-to-methane plant economy. Finally, an insight on substitute natural gas production from biomass gasification and electrolytic hydrogen is proposed.