(630g) Optimal Design and Techno-Economic Analysis of CO2 Mineralization Process Using Aqueous NaOH

CO₂ mineralization is one of the prospective CO₂ utilization methods, which can achieve both economic benefit and CO₂ reduction by converting CO₂ to more stable and valuable mineral form. As a potential CO₂ mineralization process, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) production using aqueous sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was suggested earlier by Skyonic Corporation. The overall process is composed of chlor-alkali process, CO₂ absorption process, and product recovery process. One feature of this mineralization process is that a variety of product choices are possible. In addition to NaHCO₃, one can produce hydrochloric acid, sodium hypochlorite, and hypochlorous acid from NaOH, Cl₂ and H₂ which are intermediate products of the chlor-alkali process. In this study, optimal design of the CO₂ mineralization process using NaOH is mainly examined. A process design achieving maximum CO₂ utilization is considered as a base case in which all of NaOH produced is consumed to convert CO₂. The base case is designed as a reference to the Skyonicâ??s process using AspenPlus^TM. Additionally, techno-economic analysis is carried out to discuss the feasibilities of the base case in terms of economics and CO₂ reduction in comparison with a conventional NaHCO₃ production process (â??Solvayâ?? process). Finally, optimal process designs leading to maximum profit are suggested among several possible process designs with different production portfolios. Particularly, various scenarios of the market demand and product prices are considered in finding the optimal design.