International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—The high risk of climate change impacts is a global concern due to Global Warming Potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas emission. Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) is a way to reduce GWP and also produce valuable products from CO₂. This research conducted Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of CO₂ utilization for methanol, Dimethyl Ether (DME), and formaldehyde production from CO₂ and identified a product that efficiently utilized CO₂, providing valuable benefits while minimizing the overall environmental impacts. The research consisted of two parts: a model simulation of production processes and an environmental impact assessment. Model simulation covered the preparation of raw materials CO₂ and hydrogen, mixing, reaction, separation of gases, and absorption, with the last stage being distillation to purify the products. All data were analyzed using a model of the processes in the Aspen Plus V12 software. After that, the mass balance and net energy were employed for the environmental impact assessment using LCA  based on a functional unit of 1,000 kg CO₂ feedstock and gate-to-gate approach. The results appeared that formaldehyde created the highest impacts,  while DME has the lowest for all five impacts based on the same functional unit. It was also found that the impacts were mainly caused from the source of energy used in the process, which was produced from non-renewable energy source in Thailand. It can be concluded that CCU has the potential to help achieve net-zero targets and carbon neutrality, but the vital part is the energy source that should be from renewable energy.

Keywords—carbon dioxide utilization, methanol, dimethyl ether, formaldehyde, process simulation, life cycle assessment.

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Cite: Aye Myat Theint Kyaw, Janissara Tangmesang, Varisara Phuaran, Penjit Srinophakun, Anusith Thanapimmetha, Maythee Saisriyoot, and Nutchapon Chiarasumran, "Life Cycle Assessment on Methanol, Dimethyl Ether and Formaldehyde Production for Sustainable Carbon Dioxide Utilization Options," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 250-257, 2024.

Copyright © 2024 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).