CO₂ utilization for the production of liquid hydrocarbons by coupled steam and dry reforming of bioethanol

ABSTRACT

Ethanol is an interesting fuel that can be produced by both renewable and nonrenewable resources and can be used as fuel or additive to fuels. But bioethanol is not equivalent one by one by fossil fuels in vehicles. In this study, the production of liquid hydrocarbons as synthetic fuels using bioethanol reforming has been simulated by Aspen HYSYS. For this purpose, two processes for syngas production have been proposed: 1: bioethanol steam reforming (ESR) and 2: bioethanol steam reforming coupled with dry reforming (ESR+EDR). Effective parameters including temperature, steam-to-carbon ratio, residence time, and feed split ratio have been evaluated. It is shown that the value of H₂/CO using the syngas produced from ESR is in the range of 5. This ratio was modified using ESR+EDR without and with CO₂ injection by 2.5 and 2, respectively. These values are suitable for the production of liquid hydrocarbons in the gasoline range. The C₅⁺ selectivity using synthesis gas produced in the Fischer-Tropsch reactor in the ESR and the ESR+EDR without and with CO₂ injection has been obtained by is 17.21%, 40.43%, and 42.96%, while CO₂ selectivity has been emitted by 0.11, 0.53, and 0.71.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Bioethanol
• liquid hydrocarbons
• syngas
• Fischer-Tropsch reactions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).