Abstract:
The overreliance on fossil energy brings serious environmental problems in addition to the scarcity of energy. At the same time, the emissions of CO2 have only been rising, as suggested by our inventory analysis of the entire ARL Refinery, thereby leading to global warming. Therefore, Pakistan needs to move towards the generation of fuels like methanol from greenhouse gas (CO2). In this project, it is proposed to install a carbon capture and utilization plant at one of the high-emission heater stacks. To capture CO2, we are using a metal-organic framework, called IISERP-MOF2, to separate the CO2/N2 flue gas. IISERP-MOF2 has a much higher selectivity towards CO2 as compared to that towards N2. A Vacuum Swing Adsorption (VSA) system is employed to desorb the CO2 using a four-step cycle. As for the conversion unit, the captured CO2 will react with hydrogen in a 1:3 ratio to form methanol in a packed bed reactor, resulting in equal moles of methanol and water which will then be separated using distillation.
