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Author
Sequeiros Fernández, Julio
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It is known that the increase in global temperature, the rise in sea level, the extinction of animal species, some health problems, and extreme weather events are the consequence of climate change. For this reason, for a long time, international organizations have been created that have adopted measures to alleviate this change, marking the path that the policies of different countries should follow based on scientific data.
In recent years, some ways of mitigating the effects of climate change have been proposed, but it is only recently that carbon capture and use have started to gain importance. At the same time, the problem of finding alternative fuels to meet current energy needs is increasing, since dependence on fossil fuels has an expiration date. Systems that use renewable energy to produce fuel, gas, or chemicals are called Power-to-X processes and are being investigated as a sustainable alternative to conventional processes.
In this work, both ideas are fused and a Power-to-Fuel process is developed and designed that uses the CO2 and water contained in the air to produce synthetic fuel, achieving efficiencies superior to the few technologies available in the literature. Due to the lack of information related to the design of a complete process, individual units are studied using simulations linked using Aspen Hysys® software. The complete behavior of the system is analyzed, including a sensitivity analysis of the different variables of the process. In particular, three locations with very different climatic conditions are evaluated to verify the impact of air conditions on the process, as well as the efficiency gains that a change in the composition of the inlet flow implies. In addition, a simulation of a renewable power plant with different technologies is performed for each site using RETScreen Expert® software, including a short economic report. Although economic analysis reveals high costs, this study provides a benchmark for future analysis of an integrated and sustainable process based on carbon removal and energy production.
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