(82a) Design Consideration of Multiple Dividing Wall Columns for Renewable Olefins Production Using Economic, Environmental, and Exergy Criteria

Recently, process intensification has drawn attention as a promising pathway for developing sustainable and cost-effective chemical process systems. Therefore, the technology is being used to improve conventional chemical processes. Likewise, the methanol to olefins (MTO) process which is one of the most important reactions in olefins production also can be addressed to lessen reliance on fossil resources for carbon neutrality. In this work, a renewable olefins production process via synthetic methanol derived from renewable hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide was investigated, and dividing wall column was introduced in the process to reduce cost and energy consumption. The conceptual design and simulation of the process using Aspen Plus and optimization for some parameters were presented. A comprehensive assessment was conducted using economic, exergy, and environmental analyses to evaluate the viability of the renewable olefins production process. Although many papers have conducted the process intensification technology with dividing wall columns, but suggestion of renewable chemical process and comprehensive analysis of the process has hardly been addressed. Therefore, this work has provided some practical and quantitative guidelines for renewable olefins production with dividing wall columns with respect to economic, exergy, and environmental criteria.