A Pressure-Swing Process for Reactive CO2 Capture and Conversion to Methanol through Precise Control of Co-Located Active Sites in Dual Functional Materials

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Abstract
The goals of this project are to design and develop tailored dual-functional materials (DFMs) and the accompanying pressure-swing process for the reactive capture and conversion (RCC) of CO2 to methanol, a vital product in the chemical market and a versatile precursor to fuels. Throughout this project, NREL researcher team has successfully developed 2 groups of DFM and associated cyclic RCC procedure to selectivity produce either methanol or CO, which is a major intermediate for methanol synthesis with commercially available technologies. Additionally, this project has also developed process models and techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) framework to evaThe goals of this project are to design and develop tailored dual-functional materials (DFMs) and the accompanying pressure-swing process for the reactive capture and conversion (RCC) of CO2 to methanol, a vital product in the chemical market and a versatile precursor to fuels. The proposed approach is based on the hypothesis that precise co-location of basic and metallic sites in a DFM will enable efficient RCC of CO2 in a fixed-bed temperature-pressure-swing reactor under mild conditions that favor lower capital and operating expenses and offer compatibility with a dynamic energy grid to provide favorable process economics. The proposed hybrid process utilizes renewable H2 and targets deployment at a gas-fired power plant, where CO2 point sources have relatively high CO2 capture costs by traditional methods, ranging from 43 to 89 $/ton, suggesting that the economics would benefit from an RCC approach. This choice of CO2 source represents a relatively lower carbon capture rate (0.47 MMTCO2 per plant year), but with a high number of plants (>1100). This deployment plan holds the potential to achieve relevant carbon capture and utilization magnitudes through modular implementation of the process, where initial estimates suggest that the current annual production rate of renewable methanol (0.2 MMT/year) could be equaled upon the first installation of the proposed technology. Throughout this project, NREL researcher team has successfully developed 2 groups of DFM and associated cyclic RCC procedure to selectivity produce either methanol or CO, which is a major intermediate for methanol synthesis with commercially available technologies. Additionally, this project has also developed process models and techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) framework to evaluate feasibility of the developed DFM and processes. The TEA/LCA framework includes integration of RCC process models developed using ASPEN Plus and optimization of renewable hydrogen generation and supply for RCC process using NREL's developed H2INTEGRATE tool. The detailed results of this project are reported below in 3 major sections: 1. Development of DFM for RCC to produce methanol; 2. Development of DFM for RCC to produce CO; 3. Development of TEA and LCA framework for technology feasibility evaluation. Additionally, major milestone achievements are summarized in section 4 with scientific products, including publications, patents, posters and presentations are listed in section 5. Section 6 provides a quarterly budget summary for the project.
Funding Information
  • USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE), Clean Coal and Carbon Management (AC36-08GO28308)

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