Integrated sCO2–SOEC Process for Carbon Monoxide Production from Natural Gas

Traditional fossil-fuel-based industries, including electric power generation and petrochemical production, are plagued by their inherent carbon dioxide emissions. Current efforts to minimize CO2 discharge tend to focus on costly capture and sequestration rather than utilizing the process energy and products to produce profitable chemicals. This work describes a concept and design strategy for a comprehensive facility to convert natural gas and air to carbon monoxide, which could be further used to synthesize desirable compounds and fuels. The basic components of the process are an improved supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) electric power plant for driving solid-oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) reduction in CO2 to CO. This study examines opportunities for integrating a sCO2 process with an associated air separation unit (ASU) and an SOEC, including material recycling and heat integration. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is expected to show more positive results for separate processes. Preliminary economic evaluations provide a profitable process and product route for the combined process, suggesting that carbon emission reduction could be good business.