A Technoeconomic Model Coupled with HYSYS to Analyze the Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide to Ethanol

Isabelle Pickett; Trang Vo; Ho Yan Wu; Antonio José Expósito

doi:10.1002/adts.202200782

A Technoeconomic Model Coupled with HYSYS to Analyze the Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide to Ethanol

Isabelle Pickett, Trang Vo, Ho Yan Wu, Antonio José Expósito

Ocean Lodge

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This research develops a technoeconomic analysis to study the profitability of ethanol production from CO₂ electroreduction. A HYSYS simulation is used to calculate the separation costs, a challenge in previous models available in literature. The profitability of a 10 000 kg per day CO₂ electroreduction plant to produce ethanol is studied. An optimization of the pressure swing adsorber and distillation tower, which greatly influence the total cost of the plant (≈20% of total cost), is carried out, obtaining a total cost of separation of £1.94 (Formula presented.) 10⁶. The study demonstrates that reducing the voltage applied to values around 0.5 V, i.e., by increasing the pH up to 12 makes the process economically feasible with a current density over 15 mA cm⁻². It also shows that the process is economically feasible using a current density of 5 mA cm⁻² if the electricity cost from renewable sources drops to 2.0 (Formula presented.) 10⁻² £ kWh⁻¹. Finally, it is proved that if catalyst stability is not considered, some catalysts currently available in the literature can be used with a positive economic income. The results of this research show that the industrial electroreduction of ethanol can be feasible and can attract interest in the industrial adoption of the technology.

Original language	English
Article number	2200782
Number of pages	11
Journal	Advanced Theory and Simulations
Volume	6
Issue number	4
Early online date	12 Feb 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/adts.202200782
Publication status	Published - 30 Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request

Funding

The authors are grateful to the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Bath for providing the funding necessary to carry out this investigation. The authors acknowledge AspenTech for allowing the publication of this research. References and screen images from Aspen HYSYS were used and reprinted with permission from Aspen Technology, Inc. AspenTech, Aspen HYSYS, and the AspenTech leaf logo are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved.

Funders	Funder number
Aspen Technology, Inc.
Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Bath

Keywords

CO electroreduction
ethanol
HYSYS
separation costs
technoeconomic models

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Statistics and Probability
Numerical Analysis
Modelling and Simulation
General

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1002/adts.202200782Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "This research develops a technoeconomic analysis to study the profitability of ethanol production from CO2 electroreduction. A HYSYS simulation is used to calculate the separation costs, a challenge in previous models available in literature. The profitability of a 10 000 kg per day CO2 electroreduction plant to produce ethanol is studied. An optimization of the pressure swing adsorber and distillation tower, which greatly influence the total cost of the plant (≈20% of total cost), is carried out, obtaining a total cost of separation of £1.94 (Formula presented.) 106. The study demonstrates that reducing the voltage applied to values around 0.5 V, i.e., by increasing the pH up to 12 makes the process economically feasible with a current density over 15 mA cm−2. It also shows that the process is economically feasible using a current density of 5 mA cm−2 if the electricity cost from renewable sources drops to 2.0 (Formula presented.) 10−2 £ kWh−1. Finally, it is proved that if catalyst stability is not considered, some catalysts currently available in the literature can be used with a positive economic income. The results of this research show that the industrial electroreduction of ethanol can be feasible and can attract interest in the industrial adoption of the technology.",

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A Technoeconomic Model Coupled with HYSYS to Analyze the Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide to Ethanol

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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