Techno-economic assessment and carbon footprint of processes for the large-scale production of oxymethylene dimethyl ethers from carbon dioxide and hydrogen

• Published in: Sustainable energy & fuels Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 528 - 549
• Main Authors: Mantei, Franz, Ali, Ramy E, Baensch, Cornelie, Voelker, Simon, Haltenort, Philipp, Burger, Jakob, Dietrich, Ralph-Uwe, Assen, Niklas von der, Schaadt, Achim, Sauer, Jörg, Salem, Ouda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Royal Society of Chemistry 01.02.2022
• Subjects: Additives; Alternative fuels; Carbon dioxide; Carbon footprint; Cost analysis; Costs; Criteria; Diesel fuels; Electrolysis; Emissions; Energy efficiency; Environmental impact; Ethers; Evaluation; Footprint analysis; Formaldehyde; Fossil fuels; Methanol; Operating costs; Production costs; R&D; Raw materials; Research & development; Sensitivity analysis; Soot; Technology assessment
• ISSN: 2398-4902; 2398-4902
• DOI: 10.1039/d1se01270c

Poly(oxymethylene)dimethyl ethers (OME) show promising fuel properties, enabling their use in existing infrastructure, especially as alternatives or additives to diesel fuel, leading to a significant reduction in local emissions ( e.g. , soot and NO x ). Additionally, OME can be produced from methanol, enabling their production based on a renewable feedstock, which can significantly reduce the carbon footprint in comparison to fossil fuels. However, an industrial process to sustainably produce OME on a large-scale has not been developed to date. Based on the results of detailed simulations in Aspen Plus®, this work compares the most promising process routes for the production of OME 3-5 in a system boundary including H 2 via water electrolysis and captured CO 2 from point sources or ultimately using direct air capture technologies. One of the main outcomes of this work is the standardized methodology introduced for the techno-economic and CO 2 footprint evaluation and comparison of the diverse processes. The comparison criteria are based on systematic approaches covering process materials and energy efficiency, technology readiness level, costs, and the carbon footprint. The process routes based on anhydrous formaldehyde and methanol or methylal feedstock show higher energy efficiencies and lower carbon footprints than other routes considering the commercial aqueous formaldehyde. However, the synthesis of anhydrous formaldehyde is under research and development and not yet industrially established. Importantly, considering the net production costs of OME 3-5 from the four simulated process routes, there is no significant difference, which is attributed to the rather high share of the operational cost, and specifically the cost of the H 2 and CO 2 feedstock. Using sensitivity analysis, the influence of feedstock costs and carbon footprint on the evaluation criteria is identified, elaborating the potential of feasible and sustainable OME production under favourable conditions. Standardized process simulation approach for techno-economic and carbon footprint evaluation of large scale oxymethylene ether production accounting for the complexity of the reactive formaldehyde containing system.