Application of a computer-aided framework for the design of CO2 capture and utilization processes

Carbon dioxide capture and utilization is a vital element of carbon dioxide emission reduction to address global warming. An integrated, computer-aided framework has been developed to achieve this. This framework adopts a three-stage approach to sustainable process synthesis-design: (i) process synthesis, (ii) process design and (iii) innovative design. In the first stage, reaction path synthesis is used to determine the reactions and products that are considered in processing route selection and/or generation. Various scenarios are then considered for the superstructure optimization. The selected processing route(s) is then designed and analyzed in Stage 2 to determine “hot spots” and the targets for improvement. Finally, these targets are improved in Stage 3 through the use of process integration and process intensification methods. In this work, over 150 reactions are considered for 1-3 reaction steps. Then, the superstructure optimization is performed on a network containing 13 likely products giving 30 feasible processing routes, considering different scenarios and objectives. Stages 2 and 3 have been applied to the optimal solution of the first scenario, which selects the production of dimethyl carbonate via ethylene carbonate; in Stage 3, the downstream separation is targeted for improvement and the use of reactive distillation as the more sustainable alternative, is obtained.