The conversion of carbon dioxide to methanol simulated by aspen plus

Abstract

The industrial anthropogenic emissions of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2) have surged over the past century. The unconscious emission of carbon dioxide into the environment leads to the greenhouse effect and causes global warming. The cement industry is regarded as one of the major sources of carbon dioxide emissions recently, numerous companies decide to construct relevant installations for mitigating the severe pollution caused by CO2. HeidelbergCement, a multinational building materials company, is also conscious of the issue and concentrates on the capture, usage, and storage of CO2 (CCUS). Apart from the direct use, the captured CO2 has the possibility to become a promising business. In the paper, one of the technologies that convert CO2 into methanol by hydrogenation is presented and simulated with the program named Aspen Plus. The improvements based on the purer output and energy saving on the initial simulation were accomplished. After purifying the solution, there is a rise in the concentration of CH3OH from 96.0%wt to 99.97%wt, which is an exceptionally high level that could be employed for spectroscopic or semiconductor applications. This paper may offer some references for the future studies of CCUS.