CO2 Utilization Pathways: Techno-Economic Assessment and Market Opportunities

This paper assesses two different carbon capture and utilization (CCU) routes as disposal options for captured CO2 emissions. The adopted methodology is presented and applied to the study of urea synthesis and methanol production. Process flow modelling is used to analyze their technological performances. The adopted conceptual design strategy allows for the contextualization of the modelled technologies and their comparison in terms of selected scales and process configurations. The results highlight the potential benefit of CO2 utilization, by avoiding CO2 emissions. The proposed approach is amenable for the screening of other prospective technologies: polymer synthesis, CO2 mineralization and formic acid production, which will be addressed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in a follow-up study of CCU. this work, the combination of process modelling, market study and current urea and methanol production analyses will provide the needed information to determine the economic feasibility of the selected CCU options, the possible environmental and economic advantages of the raw material replacement compared to conventional processes, the total amount of CO2 avoided and the price of CO2 as a feedstock that make CCU competitive.