Which will be a promising route among integrated CO2 capture and conversion to valuable chemicals

Facing challenges of industrial decarbonization, the integrated CO₂ capture and conversion (iCCC) technology attracts intensive attention but lacks a benchmark techno-economic analysis to figure out the most promising route among intricate processes and various energy sources. Herein, based on the design and simulation of four novel iCCC-X (X = Syngas, Methane, Methanol, Olefins) technologies for the same flue gas treatment, we propose a benchmark for techno-economic analysis by levelized criteria in terms of technical practicability, energy consumption, net CO₂ emission, and economic feasibility. The effects of technical processes, energy sources, prices of H₂ and products, carbon tax, and operating conditions on the mass and energy balance, and hence the techno-economic performances are comprehensively investigated. Among them, the iCCC-Methanol exhibits the best overall performance with a considerable economic profit of 84.5 $/t_CO2 when taking coal as the energy source; moreover, powered by wind, the lowest energy consumption of 4.2 GJ/t_CO2 and negative net CO₂ emission of −0.8 t_CO2/t_CO2 are achieved, demonstrating a promising route for future industrial decarbonizations.