Achieving significant carbon emission reduction by chemical conversion of calcium carbide furnace gas reforming to higher alcohols

Abstract

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of calcium carbide, but the inefficient and uneconomical utilization of carbide furnace gas (CFG), which is rich in CO and H2, hinders the development of the calcium carbide industry. This study aims to solve this issue by using CFG through chemical conversion to synthesize clean fuel higher alcohols (HAS). The carbon emission reduction effect of the synthesis process was thoroughly analyzed using the atom economy evaluation, energy analysis, carbon metabolism evaluation, and carbon footprint evaluation methods. In this work, the HAS synthesis process ultimately released only 1.89% of the carbon in CFG as CO2. Compared with the direct emission of CFG without utilization, the direct carbon footprint of greenhouse gas emissions after HAS synthesis decreased by 87.68%. The chemical conversion of CFG into HAS is beneficial to carbon emission reduction and clean fuel production in the calcium carbide industry.