Formic acid synthesis using CO2 as raw material: Techno-economic and environmental evaluation and market potential

Abstract

Available online xxxKeywords: Carbon dioxide utilisation Process modelling Conceptual design Formic acid synthesis Hydrogen carrier Storage of renewable electricity a b s t r a c tThe future of carbon dioxide utilisation (CDU) processes, depend on (i) the future demand of synthesised products with CO 2 , (ii) the availability of captured and anthropogenic CO 2 , (iii) the overall CO 2 not emitted because of the use of the CDU process, and (iv) the economics of the plant. The current work analyses the mentioned statements through different technological, economic and environmental key performance indicators to produce formic acid from CO 2 , along with their potential use and penetration in the European context. Formic acid is a well-known chemical that has potential as hydrogen carrier and as fuel for fuel cells.This work utilises process flow modelling, with simulations developed in CHEMCAD, to obtain the energy and mass balances, and the purchase equipment cost of the formic acid plant. Through a financial analysis, with the net present value as selected metric, the price of the tonne of formic acid and of CO 2 are varied to make the CDU project financially feasible. According to our research, the process saves CO 2 emissions when compared to its corresponding conventional process, under specific conditions. The success or effectiveness of the CDU process will also depend on other technologies and/or developments, like the availability of renewable electricity and steam.

Formic Acid Manufacture: Carbon Dioxide Utilization Alternatives

“…A1.2 and A1.3 represent the best champion data available in the literature regarding FA production by ER in terms of concentration. Their estimated values of CF were then compared with those CF values corresponding to the FA conventional (A CONV ) process [27] and the simulated CO 2 utilization alternative based on homogeneous catalysis of CO 2 and H 2, which was found in the literature (A JCR ) [6]. On one hand, a comparison between the CF values of the three novel ER alternatives (A1.1, A1.2, and A1.3) and the CF of A CONV was performed in order to provide an overview of the main remaining challenges to achieve at least carbon neutral cycle of FA production by ER (which is still in development) compared to the conventional route.…”

“…It is worth mentioning that no direct emissions from the ER process are considered. Also, it must be highlighted that the CF calculation was run only for the A1.1, A1.2, and A1.3 alternatives, as the CF values for A CONV and A JCR were provided by the corresponding references [6,7,27]. Ecoinvent database was used to obtain the CO 2 equivalent emissions for the requested resources such as conventional FA production, H 2 O, H 2 , O 2 , and steam [27], and the CO 2 equivalent emissions for the requested PV solar energy were based on the results of a previous study [31].…”

“…On one hand, it has been already demonstrated that in the alternative of homogeneous catalysts, hydrogen synthesis is the weak spot [6]. It should be further studied and optimised, as it would be one of the main contributors to the high environmental costs through electricity consumption (indirect emissions).…”

“…Some of the main available processes to convert CO 2 into FA are homogeneous catalysis [6][7][8], heterogeneous catalysis [9][10][11][12], photocatalytic reduction [13], and electrochemical reduction (ER) [14,15], which share a substantial input of energy per unit of reduced CO 2 [6]. These CO 2 utilization technologies for production of FA are currently found at different stages in terms of maturity.…”

Continuous Hydrogenation of Carbon Dioxide to Formic Acid and Methyl Formate by a Molecular Iridium Complex Stably Heterogenized on a Covalent Triazine Framework

“…[4] However, the use of solvent allows the reaction to become exergonic, for example with ΔG°2 98K = À 4 kJ mol À 1 in the aqueous phase. [7] An obvious path towards commercialization is to decrease the operating cost by using heterogeneous catalysts and their recycling, or ideally to operate the reaction under continuous flow through a reactor where a catalyst is packed inside. Transition metal complexes containing Ru, Ir, Rh, Pd, Ni, Fe, Ti, or Mo (Ru and Ir in particular), [5] are known for moderate to excellent catalytic activities.…”