Carbon Capture and Sustainable Utilization by Algal Polyacrylonitrile Fiber Production: Process Design, Techno-Economic Analysis, and Climate Related Aspects

Carbon capture and sustainable utilization (CCU) is essential to accomplishing the targets of 2015’s Paris Agreement. A promising option consists of algal based CO2 conversion into lipid rich biomass with further processing into polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber, the major precursor for carbon fiber production. A first feasibility analysis was carried out under multiple constraints for price, byproduct yield, and consumption of land, CO2, and energy. Several process-route alternatives were composed, modeled, and compared in terms of mass and energy flows, resource needs, and cost. To quantify risks from market and modeling uncertainties, we conducted a primary techno-economic analysis (TEA) with variable process pathways in a dynamic economic model of a related project company (SPV), embedded in a Monte Carlo simulation. First results indicate that process combinations with algal biodiesel-production and biomass-liquefaction (BtL) components come close to meeting the multiple constraints and justify progressing to extended research and development activities.