Cogeneration of Electricity, Hydrogen and Carbon-Containing Chemicals from Natural Gas—Coalsupplies

A no-carbon dioxide-emitting process flowsheet is presented, in which electric power, hydrogen

and formic acid are coproduced from natural gas and coal. The principal technologies employed

in the process network include combustion, steam methane reforming (SMR), pressure swing

adsorption, and formic acid production from CO2 and H2. The concept of thermodynamic self-

sufficiency is employed to access a feasible envelope for the considered process.

Further thermodynamic analysis will be carried out, so that we can find operating limits for the

proposed process. Here I employ UniSim to describe flowsheet and simulate the process. Heat

and power integration studies show this flowsheet to be energetically self-sufficient through the

use of heat engine and heat pump subnetworks.