Abstract
Several decarbonised polygeneration schemes exploiting carbon capture and storage (CCS) or CO reuse technologies for the generation of clean fuels, chemicals, electricity and heat have been systematically analysed for techno-economic feasibility. Process simulation, energy integration and economic analysis were undertaken to analyse the effect of process configurations and operating conditions on the economic potential (EP) and risks. CO capture and reuse producing methane using Sabatier's reaction shows less favourable economics compared to the counterpart CCS based scheme, both producing electricity, hydrogen, acetic acid and methanol in common. Post-combustion CO tri-reforming into methanol production in addition to electricity generation shows overall favourable economics compared to the counterpart integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) with CCS scheme. Thus, increasing product portfolio from energy products in a cogeneration plant to chemical products evolved from thermodynamic and process integration synergies increases the techno-economic viability. Bio-oil can be processed as an alternative low carbon feedstock. While bio-oil creates environmental incentives, its economic competitiveness can be enhanced by introducing credits on product prices. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.