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Methanol synthesis from CO2 via hydrogenation route: Thermodynamics and process development with techno-economic feasibility analysis

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Abstract

The present study investigated the thermodynamic and economic feasibility of methanol synthesis reactions from CO2 and H2. Three reactions, namely CO2 hydrogenation to methanol, reverse-water-gas-shift (RWGS) and methanol decomposition reaction, were considered. The effect of temperature, pressure and H2/CO2 mole ratio on CO2 conversion and methanol selectivity was examined explicitly. The simulation results were compared with experimental data. A conceptual process design for methanol synthesis from CO2 was developed using an Aspen Plus process simulator. At 250 °C and 50 bar, the analysis shows about 73% CO2 conversion and 99.7% CH3OH selectivity for a recycling ratio of 0.9. A techno-economic feasibility study was performed to understand the influence of feed and product cost, recycling ratio and plant throughput, on plant profit margins. The study revealed that the proposed process might be economically viable if the H2 price is lower than 1,500 $/ton and/or with a methanol production capacity of more than 250 tons/day.

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Abbreviations

ASPEN PEA:

Aspen process economic analyzer

DPBP:

discounted payback period

d:

discount rate

CEPCI:

chemical engineering plant cost index

CF:

cash flow

Cnew :

capacity of new equipment

C ref :

capacity of reference equipment

DC:

direct cost

DCFA:

discounted cash flow analysis

FCI:

fixed capital investment

IC:

indirect cost

IRR:

internal rate of return

NPV:

net present value

PBP:

payback period

Pr :

reaction pressure

Pnew :

purchased cost of new equipment

P ref :

purchased cost of reference equipment

R:

recycling ratio

REquil:

equilibrium reactor model

RF:

ratio factor

RWGS:

reverse-water-gas-shift

SMeOH :

methanol selectivity

TCI:

total capital investment

TPC:

total product cost

TPP:

total plant profit

TR :

reaction temperature

WCI:

working capital investment

WGS:

water-gas-shift

\(\rm{X}{CO{2}}\) :

CO2 conversion

ΔG:

Gibbs free energy change

ΔH:

enthalpy change

ΔS:

entropy change

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus for providing the necessary support and facilities for the present study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500078, India

    Suresh Kanuri, Jha Deeptank Vinodkumar, Satyapaul Amarthaluri Singh & Srikanta Dinda

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500078, India

    Santanu Prasad Datta

  3. Department of Chemistry, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500078, India

    Chanchal Chakraborty & Sounak Roy

Authors
  1. Suresh Kanuri
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  2. Jha Deeptank Vinodkumar
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  3. Santanu Prasad Datta
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  4. Chanchal Chakraborty
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  5. Sounak Roy
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  6. Satyapaul Amarthaluri Singh
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  7. Srikanta Dinda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Srikanta Dinda.

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Author Contributions

Suresh Kanuri: Conceptualization, Investigation, Data generation, Writing-original draft; Jha Deeptank Vinodkumar: Data generation; Sounak Roy: Administration, Data validation; Chanchal Chakraborty: Administration, Data validation; Santanu Prasad Dutta: Data validation; Satyapaul A. Singh: Conceptualization, Result validation, Supervision. Methodology; Srikanta Dinda: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this manuscript.

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Kanuri, S., Vinodkumar, J.D., Datta, S.P. et al. Methanol synthesis from CO2 via hydrogenation route: Thermodynamics and process development with techno-economic feasibility analysis. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 40, 810–823 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-022-1302-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-022-1302-1

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