Resource integration and CO2 conversion in industrial clusters

Countries around the globe seek ambitious CO2 emission reduction targets to avoid dangerous climate change effects. In this work, a tool was developed that produces a network of plants that can decrease emissions, maximize energy reuse and select products that maximize profit of an industrial cluster. The tool can integrate various plants and/or processes, such as industrial production plants, power plants etc., to enhance the potential of making financial profits. Recently, a focus has been put on integrating natural gas, energy, and CO2 to reduce emissions or energy demand, which fall within end-of-pipe carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) solutions. This work designs an industrial cluster on the utilization of key materials including emissions. This approach introduces a new representation of resources management in a cluster that systematically integrates H2O, N2, O2, CO2 and energy (power and heat) converting them to value added products under a reduction target. The approach develops a Linear Program (LP), which can be easily applied to explore different combinations of plants. The method was applied on an illustrative example where several scenarios were investigated. The industrial cluster converts CO2 by 76% and produces methanol, while making profit.