Process Simulation for Converting CO2 Emissions from the Cement Industry to Dimethyl Ether

Abstract

Climate change is the leading severe problem in the twenty-first century, which is associated with greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide that is the foremost cause of global warming and super greenhouse effect. In this concern, to avoid hazardous problems, the steady stream of CO₂ effluents existing in the atmosphere must be transformed to beneficial products for being used as an abundant chemical feedstock. Implementing a new green strategy, which is known for the catalytic hydrogenation of CO₂ into alternative fuels and valuable chemicals, will be a long-lasting solution to alleviate CO₂ emissions. In this paper, a process simulation showing the synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME) from CO₂ hydrogenation (CO₂ produced from EL-Sewedy cement industry) is performed using Aspen HYSYS V10 to attain a complete distinctive design for all equipment for producing a capacity of 475,000 tons per year, while energy integration is performed using Energy Analyzer Simulation software. In the main model, catalytic dehydration is done in a single-pass reactor, and then separation in multi-column product separations. Other configurations were tested by developing three simulation models with different reactors, a double pipe reactor and membrane reactor were with the aim of modification for higher energy efficiency and lower operating and capital costs. Moreover, an economic and environmental study was obtained for the basic & the integrated case, which showed that the total annual/capital costs based on the “base case” are estimated to be 90 million USD without heat integration while the optimum and integrated costs are found to be 100 Million USD. Finally, process optimization and integration were obtained to reduce the utilized energy of the hot & cold utilities by 90% and 60%, respectively.