Muhaimin Iqbal
Author

New Pathways for CCU To Low Cost Regenerative Energy

Advanced Renewable

Tue , 14 May 2024 11:57 WIB

The ideal solution for CO2 emissions is if we can convert it into new energy which we call Regenerative Energy. As emissions continue to emerge, energy needs will also continue to increase. The emission problem is solved with energy, and conversely energy needs are met by an inexhaustible source, namely emissions.

However, the process of converting emissions into energy has been complicated and expensive. So through a series of chemical reactions that we simplify below, we can create at least two new pathways to convert these emissions into easy and low cost energy. The first way is to make it synthetic gas or syngas, and the second way is to make it pure hydrogen.

There are only two basic reactions for syngas, namely the Boudouard reaction to convert carbon and CO2 into CO gas (1), and the second is to react CO gas and water into syngas, namely CO and H2 (2). If we add up these two reactions, it becomes the third reaction that is CCU for syngas reaction. From syngas, various types of fuel that we need can be formed, such as gasoline, diesel, LPG, methanol, DME, ethanol, etc.

If the desired CCU product is pure hydrogen, then the next reaction is needed, namely we react CO with water again to become hydrogen and CO2 (4), we recapture the CO2 again for the next production cycle. If we add reaction 4 to reaction 3, the result is reaction 5 which simplifies the overall CCU for hydrogen reaction.

What is then needed to facilitate the entire series of reactions is a reactor suitable for Boudouard, Water Gas and Water Gas Shift reactions. Meanwhile, CCU for Syngas (4) and CCU for H2 (5) are just a simplification of the previous series of 3 reactions.

The reactor in the sketch below is a modification of our previous reactor (XH2M) which is modified to include a carbon slurry eductor, to be able to process carbon which is used as one of the reactants in the series of 3 reactions mentioned above.

So converting emissions into energy should be relatively easy and economically feasible. The reaction processes are simple, the reactors needed to execute these reactions can also be ordered commercially already.