Economic Assessment of the Hydrogenation of CO₂ to Liquid Fuels and Petrochemical Feedstock

To remove high concentrations of CO2 from the off-gas of coal-driven power plants, a new process was proposed. The catalytic hydrogenation of the CO2 leads to the production of C2 – C4 (petrochemical feedstock) and liquid C5+ hydrocarbons (fuel). Thus, environmentally harmful CO2 may be converted sustainably to useful products. On the basis of a process flow sheet, the costs for processing the CO2 are estimated for different plant sizes. The price of hydrogen contributes significantly to the overall production costs. Further price reductions may be achieved by final engineering optimization of the process as a whole and specific unit operations