Alternative carbon dioxide utilization in dimethyl carbonate synthesis and comparison with current technologies

Abstract

Dimethyl carbonate (DMC) has recently gained popularity due to its environmentally friendly status and multiple applications in which it is able to replace more toxic chemicals. Among its several commercial synthesis production routes, the ethylene carbonate (EC) transesterification shines as a CO2 consuming process. However, other factors such as the high emitting synthesis of EC precursors hinder its environmental capabilities. Methanol oxycarbonylation is a mature DMC non-CO2 consuming synthesis route with the potential to indirectly utilize the greenhouse gas throughout the synthesis of its intermediates. In this work, we propose a DMC production superstructure using the methanol oxycarbonylation route with the aim of consuming CO2 in both the synthesis gas (syngas) and methanol synthesis stages. Results show that the integration of methanol and syngas synthesis with the DMC production process vastly decreases both the cost and emission with respect to the unintegrated case. However, the addition of a Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) reactor further decreases the emission down to a minimum of 1.019. kg CO2-eq/kg DMC, resulting in a 54 % decrease in the indicator compared with the direct CO2 utilization route. In comparison with other routes, utilization of this DMC in blends with gasoline manages to reduce the GWP of using the fuel mix to a potential 16 %.