High Energy Systems for Transforming CO2 to Valuable Products (Final Report)
- GTI Energy, Des Plaines, Illinois (United States)
- State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Albany, NY (United States)
The objective of this project is to develop the Direct E-Beam Synthesis (DEBS) process that uses high-energy electron beams (E-Beam) to break chemical bonds. This allows the production of valuable chemicals, such as acetic acid, methanol, and carbon monoxide, at relatively low severity (pressure near one atmosphere and temperatures <150°C) from near-pure CO2 captured from a pulverized coal-fired power plant and methane, imported as natural gas. Creating such valuable products will offset the cost of carbon capture and storage. Through this project, we have designed, constructed, and operated an E-Beam reactor to examine the feasibility of performing dry reforming reaction without a catalyst using only DEBS. We have verified the production of syngas with 1:1 H2:CO ratio and calculated that the energy cost for conversion is about 5.2 eV/molecule of product for dry reforming reaction which is similar to the energy cost for conversion using conventional thermochemical conversion but under significantly milder conditions (room temperature and atmospheric pressure). We have performed a technoeconomic analysis (TEA) to estimate the total capital requirement and the cost of production for a 99.4 MMSCFD syngas production plant via non-catalytic Direct E-Beam Synthesis (DEBS) technology utilizing a high-energy electron beam (E-Beam) accelerator. No assumption is made for syngas utilization downstream, and the incoming reactants are pure CO2 from carbon capture (assumed to be at zero cost) and natural gas. The Total As-Spent Cost (TASC) was calculated to be $$\$$242.5$ million, resulting in a levelized cost of syngas (LCOS) of $$\$$175.84$/tonne (metric) at a natural gas price of $$\$$6.24$/MMBTU1. The cost of syngas is primarily determined by the price of natural gas. If the cost of the CO2 feedstock is assumed to be non-zero, then the price of the CO2 feed also heavily influences the levelized cost of syngas. The potential impact on the cost of electricity from syngas revenue is significant. Following DOE NETL’s guidance, a lifecycle analysis (LCA) was conducted to compare the cradle-to-gate life cycle emissions of GTI Energy’s novel Direct E-Beam Synthesis (DEBS) process that produces syngas via the reaction of methane and carbon dioxide to the emissions of a state-of-the-art Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) process that also produces syngas via the reaction of methane and steam. The DEBS process results in less GHG emissions than SMR (with CO product as the basis of comparison). openLCA was used for the LCA and the results show that the total global warming potential (GWP) of DEBS is 0.981 kg CO2e per kg CO product, while the SMR process has a global warming potential of 2.573 kg CO2e per kg CO product. The ratio of the GWP of the proposed product system to the comparison product system is 0.381. This percent change is 61.9% lower GWP than SMR.
- Research Organization:
- GTI Energy, Des Plaines, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FE0029787
- OSTI ID:
- 1887520
- Report Number(s):
- GTI-22154-Final-Rev3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
CO2 conversion to syngas via electrification of endothermal reactors: Process design and environmental impact analysis
A Novel Process for Carbon Dioxide Conversion to Fuel