Analysis and design of integrated renewable energy and CO₂ capture, utilization, and storage systems for low-cost emissions reduction

CO₂ capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) as well as renewable energy (RE) technologies are key options for the decarbonization of economies. The high cost of such pathways makes it important to develop a strategic screening approach that yields the optimal implementation of CO₂ reduction pathways while ensuring the economic viability of such projects. This work proposes a Process Systems Engineering approach to develop minimum cost CO₂ reduction pathways. The approach implements a systematic analysis methodology to understand key decisions of the optimal design. After that, a detailed network portfolio can be obtained by solving a reduced optimization problem. The method is demonstrated in a case study which shows how the high-level analysis can be used to guide the detailed design of CO₂ reduction networks, resulting in an efficient systematic planning.