Which will be a promising route among integrated CO2 capture and conversion to valuable chemicals

Facing challenges of industrial decarbonization, the integrated CO2 capture and conversion (iCCC) technology attracts intensive attention but lacks a benchmark techno-economic analysis to figure out the most promising route among intricate processes and various energy sources. Herein, based on the design and simulation of four novel iCCC-X (X = Syngas, Methane, Methanol, Olefins) technologies for the same flue gas treatment, we propose a benchmark for techno-economic analysis by levelized criteria in terms of technical practicability, energy consumption, net CO2 emission, and economic feasibility. The effects of technical processes, energy sources, prices of H2 and products, carbon tax, and operating conditions on the mass and energy balance, and hence the techno-economic performances are comprehensively investigated. Among them, the iCCC-Methanol exhibits the best overall performance with a considerable economic profit of 84.5 $/tCO2 when taking coal as the energy source; moreover, powered by wind, the lowest energy consumption of 4.2 GJ/tCO2 and negative net CO2 emission of-0.8 t CO2 /t CO2 are achieved, demonstrating a promising route for future industrial decarbonizations.