Conceptual MINLP approach to the development of a CO2 supply chain network – Simultaneous consideration of capture and utilization process flowsheets

Abstract A large fraction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions comes from large point sources such as power plants, petroleum refineries, and large industrial facilities. A significant decrease of these CO2 emissions can be achieved with CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies. This study proposes a conceptually simplified model for the optimization of combined CO2 supply networks and capture and utilization technologies by the mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) approach. The objective is to maximize the profit of CCUS technologies, considering chemisorption using methyl-diethanolamine (MDEA) as a capture technology and conversion of CO2 to CH3OH as a utilization technology. Additionally, avoided tax from reduced CO2 emissions is considered as a revenue. A hypothetical case study of five larger point sources of CO2 was investigated, namely coal power plants, biogas plant, aluminium production plant and two cement plants. Two scenarios were considered: i) Scenario A considering different values of the CO2 tax, and ii) Scenario B considering different flue gas flowrates at different values of the CO2 tax. The results show the potential of model-based optimization in reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by CCUS technology. Furthermore, the results in Scenario A show that CCUS technology is only profitable if the price of CO2 emissions is higher than 110 €/t emitted CO2. Moreover, the results in Scenario B show that both the profit and the production of CH3OH depend to a large extent on the flue gas flow.