An exergy-based analysis for the synthesis of aromatics from biomass
The chemical process industry has been facing rising energy costs, increasing competition due to rapid globalization, and more stringent government regulations amid growing public concern for the environment, health, and safety. In response to these challenges and considering the industry's cap...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Next Sustainability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949823625000121 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1825206884143988736 |
|---|---|
| author | Mohammed Usman Joseph Akintola Gabriel Umoh Joseph Akpan Ekpotu Wilson Queen Moses Philemon Udom Edose Osagie |
| author_facet | Mohammed Usman Joseph Akintola Gabriel Umoh Joseph Akpan Ekpotu Wilson Queen Moses Philemon Udom Edose Osagie |
| author_sort | Mohammed Usman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The chemical process industry has been facing rising energy costs, increasing competition due to rapid globalization, and more stringent government regulations amid growing public concern for the environment, health, and safety. In response to these challenges and considering the industry's capital-intensive nature, ongoing optimization through redesigning existing production plants has become a key strategy. This study designs and analyses a typical process plant with two routes for synthesizing aromatics from methanol and pentane. Process route 1 involves co-feeding, while process route 2 incorporates recycling and producing pentane. For methanol synthesis, cellulose (biomass) is used as the initial raw material, leading to the synthesis of aromatics through a reaction with pentanes. Exergy, exergo-economic, and pinch analyses are performed on both process routes. The routes display different overall exergy performances, with process routes 1 and 2 achieving 39.53 % and 25.43 % exergy, respectively. The highest exergetic performance is recorded in the CO2 heater (67.69 %) and the biomass oxidation reactor (88.70 %) for process routes 1 and 2, respectively. Exergo-economic evaluations indicate that Benzene distillation separation experiences exergy destruction rates of 28.61 % and exergo-economic factor of 99.92 % for process 1, while the aromatics heater shows the highest exergy destruction of 56.68 % for process 2. Implementing heat integration in the process routes reveals that process route 1 achieves energy savings of 92.09 %, while process route 2 results in 51.38 % energy savings. This study demonstrates the two process routes’ long-term economic viability and efficiency, which can be further optimised in future studies to achieve sustainable process implementation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8a8846aa87dc4f00b047b6814627fe8a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2949-8236 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Next Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj-art-8a8846aa87dc4f00b047b6814627fe8a2025-02-07T04:48:36ZengElsevierNext Sustainability2949-82362025-01-015100109An exergy-based analysis for the synthesis of aromatics from biomassMohammed Usman0Joseph Akintola1Gabriel Umoh2Joseph Akpan3Ekpotu Wilson4Queen Moses5Philemon Udom6Edose Osagie7Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Lagos, Lagos 101245, NigeriaDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Lagos State University, Ojo 102101, NigeriaCENTEXIA Technical Services Ltd, Lagos 106104, NigeriaDepartment of Industrial Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa; Corresponding author.Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John, NL, A1B 3X7 CanadaSchool of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland EH14 4AS, United KingdomAOS ORWELL Limited, Port Harcourt PMB 029, NigeriaTotal Energies, Lagos 106104, NigeriaThe chemical process industry has been facing rising energy costs, increasing competition due to rapid globalization, and more stringent government regulations amid growing public concern for the environment, health, and safety. In response to these challenges and considering the industry's capital-intensive nature, ongoing optimization through redesigning existing production plants has become a key strategy. This study designs and analyses a typical process plant with two routes for synthesizing aromatics from methanol and pentane. Process route 1 involves co-feeding, while process route 2 incorporates recycling and producing pentane. For methanol synthesis, cellulose (biomass) is used as the initial raw material, leading to the synthesis of aromatics through a reaction with pentanes. Exergy, exergo-economic, and pinch analyses are performed on both process routes. The routes display different overall exergy performances, with process routes 1 and 2 achieving 39.53 % and 25.43 % exergy, respectively. The highest exergetic performance is recorded in the CO2 heater (67.69 %) and the biomass oxidation reactor (88.70 %) for process routes 1 and 2, respectively. Exergo-economic evaluations indicate that Benzene distillation separation experiences exergy destruction rates of 28.61 % and exergo-economic factor of 99.92 % for process 1, while the aromatics heater shows the highest exergy destruction of 56.68 % for process 2. Implementing heat integration in the process routes reveals that process route 1 achieves energy savings of 92.09 %, while process route 2 results in 51.38 % energy savings. This study demonstrates the two process routes’ long-term economic viability and efficiency, which can be further optimised in future studies to achieve sustainable process implementation.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949823625000121ExergyAromatics synthesisBiomassEnergy savingsSustainabilityExergo-economic evaluation |
| spellingShingle | Mohammed Usman Joseph Akintola Gabriel Umoh Joseph Akpan Ekpotu Wilson Queen Moses Philemon Udom Edose Osagie An exergy-based analysis for the synthesis of aromatics from biomass Next Sustainability Exergy Aromatics synthesis Biomass Energy savings Sustainability Exergo-economic evaluation |
| title | An exergy-based analysis for the synthesis of aromatics from biomass |
| title_full | An exergy-based analysis for the synthesis of aromatics from biomass |
| title_fullStr | An exergy-based analysis for the synthesis of aromatics from biomass |
| title_full_unstemmed | An exergy-based analysis for the synthesis of aromatics from biomass |
| title_short | An exergy-based analysis for the synthesis of aromatics from biomass |
| title_sort | exergy based analysis for the synthesis of aromatics from biomass |
| topic | Exergy Aromatics synthesis Biomass Energy savings Sustainability Exergo-economic evaluation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949823625000121 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mohammedusman anexergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT josephakintola anexergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT gabrielumoh anexergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT josephakpan anexergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT ekpotuwilson anexergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT queenmoses anexergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT philemonudom anexergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT edoseosagie anexergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT mohammedusman exergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT josephakintola exergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT gabrielumoh exergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT josephakpan exergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT ekpotuwilson exergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT queenmoses exergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT philemonudom exergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass AT edoseosagie exergybasedanalysisforthesynthesisofaromaticsfrombiomass |