Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-024-09530-4

RESEARCH ARTICLE-CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Process Simulation for Converting CO2 Emissions from the Cement

Industry to Dimethyl Ether
Mohamed Essam1 · Fatma Gad1 · Nour Abouseada2 · Moustafa Aly Soliman2 · Dina Aboelela2

Received: 3 January 2024 / Accepted: 18 August 2024

© The Author(s) 2024

Abstract
Climate change is the leading severe problem in the twenty-first century, which is associated with greenhouse gas emissions,
carbon dioxide that is the foremost cause of global warming and super greenhouse effect. In this concern, to avoid hazardous
problems, the steady stream of CO2 effluents existing in the atmosphere must be transformed to beneficial products for being
used as an abundant chemical feedstock. Implementing a new green strategy, which is known for the catalytic hydrogenation
of CO2 into alternative fuels and valuable chemicals, will be a long-lasting solution to alleviate CO2 emissions. In this paper,
a process simulation showing the synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME) from CO2 hydrogenation (CO2 produced from EL-
Sewedy cement industry) is performed using Aspen HYSYS V10 to attain a complete distinctive design for all equipment
for producing a capacity of 475,000 tons per year, while energy integration is performed using Energy Analyzer Simulation
software. In the main model, catalytic dehydration is done in a single-pass reactor, and then separation in multi-column product
separations. Other configurations were tested by developing three simulation models with different reactors, a double pipe
reactor and membrane reactor were with the aim of modification for higher energy efficiency and lower operating and capital
costs. Moreover, an economic and environmental study was obtained for the basic & the integrated case, which showed that
the total annual/capital costs based on the “base case” are estimated to be 90 million USD without heat integration while the
optimum and integrated costs are found to be 100 Million USD. Finally, process optimization and integration were obtained
to reduce the utilized energy of the hot & cold utilities by 90% and 60%, respectively.

Keywords Dimethyl ether · Methanol · Process simulation · Reduction of CO2 · Green hydrogen

1 Introduction by 2030 in order to limit global warming to less than 2 °C,

though it is preferable to limit it to less than 1.5 °C in order
Over the past several decades, greenhouse gas emissions to achieve net zero gas emissions by 2050 [5, 6].
have increased globally, in particular CO2 emissions, which The emission of CO2 is discharged from numerous sectors
account for 76% of total GHG emissions [1, 2]. This intensifi- of energy generation (power plants fueled by coal, natural
cation has become a significant concern because it has caused gas, or crude oil fractions), agriculture, transportation, land
numerous environmental catastrophes and severe climate use & forestry and various industrial sources (cement and
change challenges [3, 4]. Most countries began to implement steel plants) [7]. In this work, the concern will be directed to
new environmental protection strategies based on numerous having a solution to the CO2 emissions derived from cement
international agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, which industries since it consumes extraordinary heat that leads
states that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 25% to high energy consumptions [8]. In 2021, global emissions
from cement production were estimated to be 1.7 billion
B Dina Aboelela metric tons of carbon dioxide (MtCO2 ) [9]. Carbon diox-
[email protected]
ide hydrogenation is regarded as one of the most impressive
1 Department of Chemical and Refinery Engineering, Faculty solutions as Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) technologies
of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Suez University, Suez, among several ways used to propose a solution for this world-
Egypt wide issue [10]. However, this approach is more promising
2 Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering, The because it relies on the conversion of an enormous amount
British University in Egypt (BUE), El-Sherouk City, Cairo of carbon feedstock into alternative fuels and chemicals with
11837, Egypt

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Table 1 Cement flue gases composition and conditions The simulation of production of CO2 to Methanol / DME
can be acquired from different ways. CO2 would be gath-
Parameter Flue gas
ered from the combustion of fossil fuels in power plants
Temperature (°C) 105 or furnaces for industrial steel and glass manufacturing or
Pressure (KPa) 101.5
throughout the chemical process in the case of cement. More-
over, it can be obtained from biogenic sources for instance,
Flow Rate (m3 /s) 115
municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerators, distilleries, fer-
N2 (Vol %) 65.31
mentation units and Off-gas from power plants that consume
CO2 (Vol %) 11.5
biomass or biogas to produce energy is routinely processed
O2 (Vol %) 10 and released to the environment (usually at high CO2 concen-
H2 O (Vol %) 1.17 trations with atmospheric pressure). Forestry and agricultural
NOx (ppm) 199 waste and byproducts, landfill biogas, sewage, MSW, and
SOx (ppm) 170 black liquor from the pulp and paper manufacturing sectors
are all promising sustainable biomass feedstocks. Combin-
ing CO2 extracted from Bioenergy with carbon capture and
added value, even though this will aid in addressing numerous storage (BECCs) and Direct air capture (DAC) with low-
severe environmental problems. The chemical conversion of carbon-intensity hydrogen forms green methanol [20, 21].
CO2 to chemicals and fuels would not only assist to alleviate Dimethyl ether direct synthesis depends on the dehydra-
global warming caused by growing CO2 concentrations in tion of methanol or syngas, which is from biomass, coal
the atmosphere, but it would also give a way to supplement or natural gas [22]. Carbon dioxide acts as a reactant for
decreasing fossil fuel stocks [11, 12]. the synthesis of methanol afterwards DME. Carbon diox-
For a larger industrial scale, a prodigious attention has ide conversion into methanol undergoes CAMERE method
been received to the implementation of a new plan which (Carbon dioxide hydrogenation to generate methanol via a
is a green transformation of CO2 to a valued product as reverse-water gas shift reaction) that uses (RWGS) Reactor
Methanol and dimethyl ether (DME) not only for its high- and methanol synthesis reactor. After the reverse water gas
interest economy but also for utilizing it as an intermediary shift reaction (RWGSR) converts carbon dioxide to CO and
for the synthesis of desired products (olefin, aromatics and H2 O, the reactant gas is dehydrated before being injected
gasoline) or fuel utilized in power generation as gas turbines into the methanol reactors. Since methanol yield is depen-
[13–15]. Besides DME is also considered a circular hydrogen dent on the CO concentration in the CO2 /CO/H2 mixed gas,
carrier that can contribute to push towards a green hydrogen the greater the CO2 to CO conversion in the RWGSR, the
industry [9]. Dimethyl ether (DME) is an environmentally greater the possibility for increasing methanol productivity
friendly chemical product with a lot of advantages since it is [23, 24]. The reactions below show the steps involved in
low-toxic, has excellent combustion characteristics, has high DME production:
heating value, is chemically inactive, an aerosol propellant Reaction 1 Methanol Synthesis
that can be used to substitute the banned ozone-destroying
chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) compounds [16, 17]. Moreover, CO + 2H2  CH3 OH
DME can be easily compressed, condensed, and vaporized (1)
CO2 + 3H2  CH3 OH + H2 O
and has extraordinary solubility of polar and non-polar sub-
stances. Besides, DME is like LPG in terms of physical Reaction 2 Methanol dehydration to DME
properties, for instance low saturation steam pressure [18,
19].
2CH3 OH  CH3 OCH3 + H2 O (2)
When talking about carbon emissions, industrial pro-
cesses are responsible for 20–25% of global greenhouse
Reaction 3 Reverse water gas shift reaction (RWGS)
gas emissions, with the iron and steel production and the
cement industry alone responsible for more than 50% of
industry-related CO2 emissions. The main challenge facing CO2 + H2  CO + H2 O (3)
the cement industry is reducing CO2 emissions at the same
time as meeting global demand. Developing economies’ Reaction 4 The global reaction for the formation of DME
infrastructural needs require the global development and
deployment of new emission reduction technologies for the 2CO2 + 6H2  CH3 OCH3 + 3H2 O (4)
sector. Table1 shows cement industry emissions composition
and conditions and after deep search it was found that every Implementing a complete green cycle strategy of carbon
ton of cement produced gives 0.6 tons of CO2 [15]. dioxide hydrogenation will serve the chemical industry and

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Fig. 1 A complete green cycle strategy of carbon dioxide hydrogenation

power generation sector. Hydrogen formed from hydrocar- Moreover, another model was done for finding a direct
bons fossils such as light hydrocarbons or natural gas used route in the presence of hybrid catalyst to produce DME
in the previous reactions should be replaced by green tech- from CO2 and H2 mixture. The data showed that the addi-
nologies [25, 26]. As shown in Fig. 1, the process of inducing tion of ZrO2 to the commercial catalyst (CuO/ZrO2 /Al2 O3 ) is
CO2 to methanol entails CO2 capture and purification: CO2 is very promising since it is obtained that using CuO/ZrO2 as a
captured from flue gas of the industrial processes or directly metallic function has a positive influence on the total catalytic
from the air, afterwards purified to remove impurities [1, 25, activity of the hybrid catalyst [29]. ZrO2 is a prospective
27]. The CO produced in the preceding stage is then reacted catalyst support, promoter, and even active species for CO2
with green (Low Carbon) hydrogen in the presence of a cat- hydrogenation because of its versatile properties and low
alyst to form methanol (CH3 OH) and then DME [20, 22]. hydrophilicity [30].
Low-carbon-intensity hydrogen was generated via methane Similarly, but with the usage over Brønsted Acidic PdZn
reforming with carbon capture in the beginning, but water Catalysts, virtuous results were obtained showing dual func-
electrolysis with renewable electricity from solar, wind, or tionality of this catalyst since it was successful to catalysis
hydroelectricity is getting increasingly prevalent nowadays. at temperatures of > 270 °C not only CO2 hydrogenation to
Many studies were done with the aim of testing different methanol but also dehydration to dimethyl in a single cata-
methods to produce DME with changing different parameters lyst bed [31]. From many different catalysts that were tested
operating condition, type of catalyst, type of reactor. One of at atmospheric pressure, Cu-Ho-Ga/g-Al2 O3 revealed that
the studies’ objectives was making a model to examine the it is an efficient catalyst with methanol formation rate that
formation of DME by the direct conversion of CO2 through reaches 90.3 μmolCH3 OH/gcat/h and formation of DME at
a fixed bed membrane reactor, one of the key findings of this a rate of 13.2 μmolDME/gcat/h [29].
model showed that sweep gas which entered in co-current Additionally, for the production of DME in pilot scale, a
mode enhanced water and heat removal and the high sweep study was carried out to produce DME from syngas under
gas flow rates stimulate the removal of water thus, increasing steady-state conditions via pipe-shell reactor [32]; another
the production of DME [24]. Other collaborative research model simulated a set of algebraic and partial differential
reported DME from methanol via a dehydration step and equations [33]. Though, for high purity of DME, a single
could be a consistent substitute fuel for diesel engines that catalytic distillation column should be used [34]. Also, it was
will have low emissions of SOx and NOx [28]. reported that production of DME can take place via a slurry
bubble column reactor, adiabatic fixed bed reactor or by the

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Fig. 2 System displayed in the chart explains the main steps of simulation design

circulating fluidized bed; however, it was proven that dehy- 2.2 Building PFD
dration of methanol using solid acid catalyst in an adiabatic
fixed-bed reactor is a commercial approach [35]. The second step is building the PFD by specifying and defin-
The primary objective of this work is to analyze and simu- ing the streams by adding pressure, temperature, flow rate
late the catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 gases—a byproduct and composition for each stream. Then mass and energy bal-
of the cement industry—to produce DME. Process descrip- ances were performed to obtain the results and validate the
tion discusses the specific process description based on base case.
ASPEN-HYSYS V10, whereas process methodology dis-
cusses the methodology and algorithm that illustrates the
primary steps of simulation design. Regarding the mate- 2.3 Data Evaluation
rial stream’s data and the unit operation settings, these were
also contested in the talks and results. This strategy shows Firstly, an economic evaluation is studied to test the feasibil-
promise in meeting the increasing demand for environ- ity of the project, then an environmental evaluation is studied
mentally benign, alternative fuels and energy carriers. (All to test the energy consumption and CO2 emissions (Fig. 3).
pressure values used in this paper are absolute values.)

3 Process Description
2 Methodology
3.1 Production of Methanol
Figure 2 illustrates the main steps for the simulation design
that undergo the simulation of the flowsheet, building the The first inlet stream is Hydrogen with a molar flow rate
PFD and Data Evaluation. of 11219.53 kmol/hr; the pressure and temperature of this
stream are 30 bar and 25 °C, respectively, which is then com-
pressed to 69.2 bar atm and heated to 134.8 °C. While the
2.1 Start Process second inlet stream consists of CO2 and CO with a molar
flow rate of 3788.12 kmol/hr, the pressure and temperature
The first step is simulating a flowsheet in Aspen HYSYS V of the stream are 30 bar and 25 °C, respectively. This stream
10 to model and design Methanol and DME process Plant. enters multistage compressors and coolers to reach 69 bar
The model begins by defining the chemical component list and 135°C. Subsequently, the two inlet streams are mixed in
that includes Hydrogen, CO2 , CO, H2 O, and Methanol and Mix-101 and then heated to reach 110 °C; later this stream
Dimethyl ether. The chosen fluid package was SRK followed enters two series PFR reactors to form methanol with a con-
by the addition of reactions and kinetics. version of 50% [18, 36, 37].

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Fig. 3 Production of methanol Aspen HYSYS case

Fig. 4 Production of DME Aspen HYSYS case

The output stream will be cooled then separated in a reaction is then carried in a plug flow reactor to form DME
two-phase separator to be split into two streams; the top with conversion of 32% [18, 36, 37]. The output stream is
stream consists of the gases while the bottom stream con- then cooled to 70 °C and then separated in two series dis-
sists of methanol and water. The top stream is compressed tillation columns. In the first distillation, DME is separated
and then recycled with the inlet streams in Mix-101. The bot- in the distillate stream, while methanol and water are sep-
tom stream enters a second two-phase separator to enhance arated in the bottom stream. Though the second distillation
the efficiency of separation. The bottom stream from the sec- column will separate methanol from water. Lastly, the over-
ond separator is heated to increase the temperature from 37 head stream of the second distillation column is recycled with
to 70 °C. This stream will enter a distillation column with the inlet methanol stream [18, 22] (Table 2).
specification 15 number of stages, reflux ratio 1.3 and purity
of methanol 99% to produce methanol in the distillate stream
with flow rate of 3629.4 kmol/hr and water the bottom stream 4 Results and Discussion
with 3575.1 kmol/hr [18, 36, 37].
4.1 Simulation Modeling and Validation
3.2 Production of DME
4.1.1 DME Reactors
In this section, the production of Dimethyl ether is done by
dehydration over an industrialized catalyst (γ -Al2O3 cata- Several conventional reactor configurations have been stud-
lyst). The inlet stream contains methanol with a molar flow ied for DME synthesis, and successive improvements have
rate of 3725 kmol/hr, while the pressure and temperature of been made to increase DME yield, selectivity, and energy
this stream is 1 bar and 35 °C, respectively. Later the stream efficiency. It can be classified as Conventional configuration
is then heated to 260 °C and compressed to increase the pres- (Fluidized bed, packed bed reactor, (stirred or bubbling) reac-
sure from 1 to 12 bar and 509 °C (Fig. 4). The dehydration tors) and innovative configurations (Coupled and dual type

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Fig. 5 Aspen HYSYS process flow sheet of the single-pass reactor model

Fig. 6 Aspen HYSYS process flowsheet of the double reactor model

Fig. 7 Aspen HYSYS process flowsheet of the membrane reactor model

reactors, catalytic distillation reactors, membrane reactors, the second reactor will be used to heat the reactants and will
spherical reactors, microreactors and microchannel reactors) lead to a reduction in recycle ratio and an increase in reac-
[36]. In this work synthesis of DME was obtained by utiliz- tors capacity [28]. Moreover, to resemble the reactants stream
ing single-pass reactors as shown in Fig. 5, double reactors as will be inserted into the shell of the additional reactor, a coor-
shown in Fig. 6, and membrane reactors as shown in Fig. 7. dination of heat exchangers and PFR reactors were utilized.
Three simulation models were developed by each reactor as The results obtained from this single-pass reactor simulation
shown in the below flowcharts with the aim of modification showed methanol Conversion (85.13%) and Reactor DME
for higher energy efficiency and lower operating and capital Yield (42.57%) [38, 39] (Table 3).
costs. The final modification done in the third case uses a
Three cases were modeled by Aspen HYSYS V.10 soft- membrane reactor consisting of a perm-selective membrane
ware, the first case simulated which is considered the base (H-SOD membrane). Also, HYSYS database lacks this con-
case entails only a simple plug flow reactor, and a separator, figuration; hence as a substitute for this, a manipulated reactor
the results obtained from this single-pass reactor simulation system is simulated that consists of water separators placed
showed methanol conversion (81.67%) and Reactor DME among smaller reactor segments [40]. The results obtained
Yield of 43%. Then a modification was done by changing the from the membrane reactor simulation showed methanol
configuration to two shell and tube heat exchanger reactors Conversion of 96.9% and Reactor DME Yield of 48%.
in series. However, HYSYS database lacks this configuration
but as a substitute for this a Lurgi’s two-stage reactor is mod-
eled. Since the reaction is exothermic, heat integrated from

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Table 2 Main parameters for the base case simulation for the feed Table 3 Summary table for the three models configuration
stream, reactor and DME column
Results Single-pass Double Membrane
Feed stream reactor reactor reactor
Temperature 35 °C
DME 147,000 121,200 81,014.756
Pressure 1 bar
production
Flow rate 3725 kgmol/hr (kg/hr)
118,600 kg/hr DME y% 0.3983 0.9954 0.8778
Feed composition mole fraction DME X% 0.5764 0.9962 0.9246
Methanol 0.9803 Normalized 1.22 0.4634 0.6829
DME 0 DME
production
Water 0.0109
(mass/mass)
CO2 0.0088
Recycle ratio 0.2206 0.1714 No recycle
Reactor (mol/mol)
Temperature Inlet temp  400 °C Methanol: H2 O 50.23 50.29 50.54
Outlet temp  499.7 °C Methanol: CO2 186.2 178.7 152.4
Pressure 12 bar of reactor inlet
Molar flow rate 4547 kgmol/hr Methanol 81.67 85.13 96.9
conversion
Mass Flow rate 144,700 kg/hr
(%)
Feed composition mole fraction
DME selectivity 50 50 50
Methanol 0.9753 (%)
DME 0 Reactor DME 43 42.57 48
Water 0.0194 yield (%)
CO2 0.0052 Overall DME 76 76.06 73.85
yield
Reactor length  6 m
Diameter 2.8 m
Number of tubes  5000
Table 4 Economic results for the different simulation models
Void fraction  0.4
Heat of reaction  − 2799 kcal/kmol Results Single-pass reactor Optimized
(base case) integrated case
DME column
Reflux ratio  1.46 Total capital cost 9 × 107 10 × 107
[USD]
Comp fraction 0.98
Total operating cost 12 × 107 9.5 × 103
No. of stages 22
[USD/year]
Ovhd vap rate  50 kmol/hr
Total raw materials 2 × 109 2 × 109
Feed stage 15 cost [USD/year]
Pressure 9.6 bar Total product sales 1.5 × 109 1.5 × 109
Partial condensation [USD/year]
Total utilities cost 11 × 107 5 × 104
[USD/year]
P.B. Period [year] 2.5 1
4.2 Data Evaluation

An evaluation for the results and data obtained in terms of

The results of the economic evaluation based on HYSYS
environmental & economic thinking is considered. In this
database calculations including (total equipment cost, raw
step, a comparative analysis between the energy consumption
materials cost, utilities cost, operating costs, etc.) are pre-
of the basic & the integrated case is presented.
sented in Table 4. Moreover, a comparison between the
optimized integrated case, the base case and the three dif-
4.2.1 Economic Evaluation ferent models is deliberated. All calculations were made in
USD [18, 41].
Economic analysis was carried out to ensure the feasibility It is presented in the previous table that the capital cost
& success of the project. needed for the proposed basic design that will produce

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Table 5 Profit margin calculation

2CO2 + 6H2  CH3 OCH3 + 3H2 O
Compound CO2 H2 DME H2 O
Moles 2 6 1 3
MW (kg/mole) 44 1.00784 46.07 18
KG 88 6 46.07 54
Kg/KgDME 1.62 0.11 0.8531 1
Price ($/kg) [15, 17, 26, 41, 42] 0.54 2.5 2.32 (Low cost) negligible

475,000 tons per Year is 90 million USD, while around • QFuel (kW) is the amount of fuel burnt, (α=3.67) is the
120 million USD for operating cost. The estimated time for ratio of molar masses of CO2 and C,
the plant startup, construction and processing was about two • while NHV (kJ/kg) is the net heating value of a fuel
years. The Payback period (PBP) of the project is 2.5 years • C% (-) a carbon content of fuel.
[17].
Table 5 shows the Profit margin (PM) calculation for the Calculations of the amount of fuel burnt.
Dimethyl ether (DME) production that revealed that the pro-
cess is profitable [40]. Q proc (kW)
Q fuel  (7)
Profit Margin ηFurn

  where,
PM  (Products) − (Reactants)  (1.97 − (0.874 + 0.275))
 
 0.821
$
(+VE ) (5) • Q.Fuel is the amount of fuel burnt in a furnace
kg DME • Q.Proc (kW) is heat duty required by the process
• ηFurn (-) is the furnace efficiency that is defined as the ratio
After calculating the profit margin, a positive value was of the useful heat delivered to the process to the amount
obtained so the project is profitable and can be implemented. of fuel burnt.

4.2.2 Environmental Evaluation Finally, Table 7 summarizes the calculations results which
show a noticeable improvement between the base case and
4.2.2.1 Energy Consumption Optimization of the basic case the integrated case. Atmospheric CO2 Emissions (kg/h) in
is achieved by means of Aspen Energy Analyzer software by the base case is 7200; it has been reduced by 50% to reach
using pinch analysis and heat integration of Heat Exchanger 3750.
Networks (HEN). The crucial data of each stream such as
heat duties temperatures and heat capacities were extracted
from the simulation for achieving the most optimum HEN 5 Conclusion
and to reach potential energy and cost savings [40] (Fig. 8).
After studying the results of the Composite Curve shown To conclude, Catalytic Hydrogenation of CO2 for produc-
in Fig. 9, energy targets for cold and hot utilities, pinch posi- ing Dimethyl Ether seems to be a promising technology,
tion were determined. The data calculated is presented in which will be an alternative solution for facing the ever-
Table 6, which shows a comparison between utilities con- increasing demand of energy carriers and environmentally
sumption for the basic case & the integrated case. friendly fuels. In this work, a comprehensive design method-
ology for a DME production is presented with the aim
4.2.2.2 CO2 Emissions Calculations An environmental eval- of simulating a plant for producing a capacity of 475,000
uation for the basic model was studied; the carbon dioxide tons per year using Aspen HYSYS software. An economic
emissions of boilers resulted from fuel combustion were cal- and environmental evaluation was considered. The design
culated using the following equations [42]: of the plant is separated into two sections; one model was
CO2 Emissions Calculations done in the first section to produce methanol from CO2
using two series PFR reactors. Then in the second section
Q Fuel (kW) C% three different configuration models were done using single-
CO2 Emissions  × ×α (6) pass reactors, double reactors, and membrane reactors for
NHV 100
the highest conversion of methanol to the desired product
where, Dimethyl ether DME. Besides, optimization using Pinch

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Fig. 8 The Heat Exchanger Network (HEN) for the base case

Fig. 9 Composite curve for the

basic case. Zone (A): shows
heating area that needs cold
utilities. Zone (B): shows the
area where heat exchange is
made between hot and cold
streams. Zone (C): shows cooling
area that needs hot utilities

Table 6 Network performance

Results Base case Integrated case % Target savings

QH heating (KJ/h) 892,900,000 57,970,000 90

QC cooling (KJ/h) 1,473,700,000 575,800,000 60
Number of units 16 28 140
Number of shells 99 114 285
Total area (m2 ) 43,210 46,189 69.42

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Table 7 CO2 emissions

calculations Results Base case Integrated case

ηFurn 0.924 0.924

QProc (kW) 248,000 133,000
QFuel (kW) 275,500 144,000
NHV (kJ/kg) (natural gas) 38,000 38,000
α 3.67 3.67
C% 75 75
Atmospheric CO2 emiss (kg/s) 2 1
Atmospheric CO2 emiss (kg/h) 7186.2 3754.9
Atmospheric CO2 emiss (kg/y) 62,000,000 32,000,000

technology for reducing the energy consumption of utili- Funding Open access funding provided by The Science, Technology
ties by HEN, the heat exchanger network of the process was & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) in cooperation with The Egyp-
tian Knowledge Bank (EKB).
done. The results showed a reduction in cold utility require-
ment from 1,473,000,000 to 575,800,000, while in hot utility
requirement from 892,900,000 to 57,970,000. This improve- Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri-
ment resulted in a positive environmental impact. Moreover, bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation,
atmospheric CO2 emissions were also reduced by 50%. Com- distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you
give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, pro-
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comparison for the different simulation models for the differ- were made. The images or other third party material in this article are
ent reactors in terms of capital cost, operating cost, utilities, included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated
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