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Novel process design and techno-economic simulation of methanol synthesis from blast furnace gas in an integrated steelworks CCUS system

Porter, RTJ; Cobden, PD; Mahgerefteh, H; (2022) Novel process design and techno-economic simulation of methanol synthesis from blast furnace gas in an integrated steelworks CCUS system. Journal of CO2 Utilization , 66 , Article 102278. 10.1016/j.jcou.2022.102278. Green open access

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Abstract

A novel process design and techno-economic performance assessment for methanol synthesis from Blast Furnace Gas (BFG) is presented. Methanol synthesis using BFG as a feedstock, based on direct CO2 hydrogenation at commercial scale was simulated using Aspen Plus software to evaluate its technical performance and economic viability. The applied process steps involve first conditioning BFG using adsorption based desulfurisation, water-gas shift, dehydration, then separation of components into N2, CO2 and H2 rich streams using pressure swing adsorption. The H2 stream and a fraction of the CO2 stream are fed to a methanol synthesis system, while the remaining CO2 may be considered for geological storage in a Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) case, or not in a Carbon Capture Utilization (CCU) case. Techno-economic analysis confirms methanol production from BFG is economically attractive under certain conditions, with Levelized Cost of Methanol production (LCOMeOH) calculated to be 344.61 £/tonne-methanol, and costs of CO2 avoided of - 20.08 £/tonne-CO2 for the CCU process and 9.01 £/tonne-CO2 for the CCUS process when using a set of baseline engineering assumptions. Sensitivity analysis of the process simulation explores opportunities for optimising the methanol synthesis system in terms of the impact of reactor size and/or recycle ratio on LCOMeOH. Economic viability of the CCU(S) processes is also found to be highly dependent on the cost of the feedstock BFG. Future cost savings as compared to business-as-usual steel production by 2030 in consideration of expected increases in the carbon price are estimated to be 10.59 £/tonne-steel for CCU and 24.61 £/tonne-steel for CCUS.

Type: Article
Title: Novel process design and techno-economic simulation of methanol synthesis from blast furnace gas in an integrated steelworks CCUS system
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcou.2022.102278
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2022.102278
Language: English
Additional information: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. under a Creative Commons license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Process design, Methanol synthesis, CO2 hydrogenation. Iron & steel, Technoeconomic analysis
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10160255
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