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

Isabelle Pickett, Trang (Tracy) Vo, Ho Yan Wu, Antonio Jose Exposito

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This research develops a technoeconomic analysis to study the profitability of ethanol production from CO 2 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 CO 2 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.) 10 6. 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 languageEnglish
Article number2200782
JournalEnergy Technology
Volume6
Issue number4
Early online date12 Feb 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Theory and Simulations published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

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.

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

    Keywords

    • CO electroreduction
    • HYSYS
    • ethanol
    • separation costs
    • technoeconomic models

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General
    • Numerical Analysis
    • Statistics and Probability
    • Modelling and Simulation

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