Optimization-based framework for technical, economic, and environmental performance assessment of CO2 utilization strategies

Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) for chemicals and fuel production is one of the effective measures addressing global warming and energy security. Since CCU utilizes harmful CO2 as a raw material to produce high-value chemicals and fuels such as methanol, Fischer-Tropsch fuel, dimethyl ether, and gasoline, it mitigates CO2 emission and creates more fuel availability or shares the burden on fossil fuels. This study aims to develop an optimization-based framework of CO2 utilization strategies and to analyze CO2-to-fuel strategies regarding technical, economic, and environmental performance. To achieve this goal, we generated a superstructure consisting of many CO2 utilization pathways, including a series of technologies (e.g., reaction/conversion, and separation and purification) for different fuel production. We then developed process simulation and estimated the key techno-economic parameters such as mass and energy flow, and sizing and costing data. The optimization models were developed to identify the optimal CO2 utilization strategy and assess its feasibility with four different criteria: energy efficiency (EEF), production quantity, production cost (UPC), and net CO2 emission (NCE). As a result, the proposed optimization-based framework is able to i) identify the best CO2 utilization strategy over various technological pathways for targeted fuels, ii) provide a decision-making guide to policymakers and stakeholders for planning an economically viable and sustainable CO2 utilization strategy. Copyright (c) 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)