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Simulation of gasoline production from CO2 by Aspen Hysys

Conference Paper · September 2021

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Khadijeh Mirza Arkan Hadi

Soran University Faculty of engineering Soran University
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 Simulation of gasoline production from CO2 by Aspen Hysys

Khadijeh Mirza1,*- Arkan Jasim Hadi1

1
Chemical engineering department, Faculty of engineering, Soran university, Soran, Erbil, Iraq

ABSTRACT
Using CO2 as renewable recourse for fuel production could help mitigate global warming and reduce
dependence on non-renewable energy recourses. For this reason, global attention to carbon dioxide is
increasing. This study focuses simulation of CO2 conversion to gasoline by Hysys and effects of temperature,
pressure, and H2/CO2 ratio on production of gasoline was investigated. Rising feed temperature causes an
increase conversion of reactants to gasoline and optimal temperature and pressure was determined at 250℃
and 2000kpa, respectively. Also, Higher percentage of fuel obtained for H2/CO2 ratio of around 3.

Keywords: CO2 conversion, Gasoline, Fischer-Tropsch, Hysys, synthesis gas.

1. INTRODUCTION
For many years, fossil fuels as carbon rich resources such as crude oil, coal and natural gas are used for
human activities. However, the burning of these fuels has produced huge amounts of CO2 emissions, which
causes undesirable events such as climate change and global warming. In recent year, temperature rising of
atmospheric of our planet have been global concern. The effects of this phenomenon are shrinking glaciers,
storms and floods, drought. Therefore, governments committed themselves to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, in particular CO2 emissions [1-3]. Using CO2 for production of liquid fuels is suitable way for
decreasing CO2. In addition, oil reserves are non-renewable resources for fuels production. Limitation of
reserves effects oil prices. Therefore, process of converting CO2 to liquid fuels has been considered by scientists
[4,5].
The CO2 can be obtained from biomass and industrial exhaust gases. The first step from CO2 conversion to
fuel is production of CO and H2 (synthesis gas). The second step of process is the production of liquid fuels
from syngas by integration of Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) [6,7]. In this study, Hysys software was used
for design of CO2 conversion to fuels and effects of some factors such as temperature, pressure, and H2/CO2
ratio on products was investigated.

1.1 Process modeling with HYSYS

Process of gasoline production from CO2 includes two reactors with data as shown in table. 1. The first
reactor runs at 100 kpa and 762.5℃ and the second reactor works at 3000 kpa and 220℃. For increasing
pressure from 100 to 3000 kpa, compressor was used and multiply steps cooling need to reach temperature to
220℃.
Process of fuel production was designed by Hysys V.11. CO2 at 650℃ and H2 at 850℃ enter to the first
adiabatic reactor with 0.5 m diameter and 3 m length. The basic reaction is shown in eqn (1)[1]:

CO2 + H2 ↔ CO + H2O (1)

Products of reaction exit at 100 kpa and 541.5℃. The second reaction take place in the second reactor at
220℃ and 3000kpa is shown in eqn (2) [1]:

8CO + 17H2 ↔ C8H18 + 8H2O (2)

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 Fischer–Tropsch (FT) converts a mixture of CO and H2 to gasoline in adiabatic reactor with 0.5 m diameter
and 3 m length.

Table 1. Reactor configuration [1].

a) Reactor 1
Feed Temperature (℃) Pressure (Kpa) Molar flow rate Diameter Length (m)
(kgmole/hr) (m)
CO2 650 210 25
0.5 3
H2 850 100 80

b) Reactor 2
Molar flow rate Diameter Length
Feed Temperature (℃) Pressure (Kpa)
(kgmole/hr) (m) (m)
CO, H2, H2O 220 3000 105 0.5 3

1.2 Results

1.2.1 Temperature
Figure 1 shows effects of feed temperature on molar composition of reactants and products in the adiabatic
reactor. As it is seen in figure 1 (a) and (b), composition of CO and H 2 decreases for higher temperature and
conversion of CO is maximum at 250 ℃. Figure 1 (c) and (d) clearly indicates that as the temperature rises,
composition of gasoline and water goes up.
For higher temperature, reaction need higher energy to run. Therefore, optimal energy consumption occurs
at 250 ℃. These results are consistent with simulation data used by researchers [1, 2].

Fig. 1. Effects of temperature on molar composition of (a) CO, (b) H2, (c) H2O, and (d) gasoline.

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 1.2.2 Pressure
The effect of feed pressure on molar flow of gasoline is presented on figure 2. The high percentage of
gasoline was at 220℃ and 2000 kpa. Experimentally, the second reaction for gasoline production takes place
at 3000 kpa[1]. Energy consumption is less to reach 2000 kpa.

Fig. 2. Effects of pressure on flow rate of gasoline.

1.2.3 H2 /CO2 ratio

Conversion of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and water is a reversible reaction. In order to keep the
reaction favorable towards carbon monoxide, partial pressure of reactants need to be increased. Kirsch,
Lochmahr et al used excess of hydrogen is to coke deposition on the catalyst surface [4]. As shown in figure
3, the mole fraction of gasoline will increase with increasing H2/CO2 ratio. Conversion is good for molar ratio
of around 3 but for more than 3.2, process does not run production [1].

Fig. 3. Effect of H2/CO2 ratio on molar friction of gasoline.

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 1.3 Conclusion
Conversion of CO2 to gasoline inside adiabatic reactor was studied using Aspen Hysys. The adiabatic
reactors were simulated and effect of temperature, pressure and H2/CO2 ratio on molar composition of gasoline
was investigated. The higher gasoline yield is a result of having higher temperature. For decreasing energy
consumption, 250℃ considered as optimal temperature. Also, conversion of synthesis gas to gasoline
simulated in high pressure for achieve liquid fuel. Finally, H2/CO2 ratio was tested and higher percentage of
gasoline obtained for molar ratio of around 3.

REFERENCES

[1] Dimitriou, I., et al. (2015). "Carbon dioxide utilisation for production of transport fuels: process and
economic analysis." Energy & Environmental Science 8(6): 1775-1789.

[2] Cuéllar-Franca, R., et al. (2019). "Utilising carbon dioxide for transport fuels: The economic and
environmental sustainability of different Fischer-Tropsch process designs." Applied Energy 253: 113560.

[3] Rahma, F. N. "Simulation of CO2 Conversion into Methanol in Fixed-bed Reactors: Comparison of
Isothermal and Adiabatic Configurations." Reaktor 19(3): 131-135.

[4] Kirsch, H., et al. (2020). "Production of CO2-neutral liquid fuels by integrating Fischer-Tropsch synthesis
and hydrocracking in a single micro-structured reactor: Performance evaluation of different configurations by
factorial design experiments." Chemical Engineering Journal 393: 124553.

[5] Wei, J., et al. (2017). "Directly converting CO 2 into a gasoline fuel." Nature communications 8(1): 1-9.

[6] Gavrilović, L., et al. (2021). "Fischer-Tropsch synthesis over an alumina-supported cobalt catalyst in a
fixed bed reactor–Effect of process parameters." Catalysis Today 369: 150-157.

[7] Mahmoudi, H., et al. (2017). "A review of Fischer Tropsch synthesis process, mechanism, surface chemistry
and catalyst formulation." Biofuels Engineering 2(1): 11-31.

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