Volume 5: Innovative Solutions for Energy Transitions: Part IV

Life Cycle Assessment of Formic Acid Production Using CO2 From Petrochemical Company Emission and H2 from Power Plant Electricity within Industrial Complex Yuchan Ahn, Jeehoon Han

Abstract

Many studies have been conducted to illustrate the production of formic acid (FA) utilizing carbon dioxide (CO2) in an economically viable manner, but the environmental impact has not received much attention. When CO2 is used to produce FA, greenhouse gas including CO2 will be reduced although the economics of FA production utilizing CO2 is lower than that of conventional production using fossil fuel. To achieve a sophisticated understanding of CO2 utilization, this study focuses on life cycle assessment (LCA) for analyzing the environmental impacts of FA production. Based on new process simulation data for CO2-based FA production, we compare the environmental impact results of CO2-based FA to fossil-based FA. LCA has been conducted in consideration of five petrochemical companies located in the industrial complex of Korea to ensure the potential availability of sources.

Keywords formic acid, CO2 utilization, life cycle assessment, climate change, fossil depletion, petrochemical company