Modeling for the Life Cycle Assessment of Dry Reforming Technology – Challenges and Lesson Learnt

The dry reforming reaction offers several advantages in fixation of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. The process however, is dependent on choosing the right conditions and catalysts, which primarily govern the formation of syngas and byproducts. The quality of syngas produced also has a major role in the selection of subsequent products, where there may be the need for introducing hydrogen sources for hydrocarbons.

The choice of a system boundary and accounting for this process in terms of carbon emissions becomes very crucial, as the sources of carbon on one hand supplies mass, while the reactions can be endothermic, where external heat needs to be supplied and requires a source of energy. If fossil sources of energy are used, the net carbon balance tends to be negative. In this paper, the authors explore the possibilities of conventional and non-conventional energy sources to supplement the dry reforming process, and for targeted products in modeling the life cycle stage of CO₂ utilization via the dry reforming reaction.