Preliminary techno-economic analysis of a multi-bed series reactor as a simultaneous CF4 abatement and utilization process

A preliminary techno-economic analysis combining process simulation and economic analysis has been carried out to assess the feasibility of employing a new CF4 abatement and utilization process without HF effluent, where CaO was employed to convert produced HF into CaF2, a useful chemical. Moreover, the effect of employing multi-bed series reactors compared with a single-bed reactor on CaF2 production was analyzed using Aspen HYSYS (R) based on material and energy balances from process flow diagrams for three systems, a single-bed reactor (S-1), a two-bed series reactor (S-2), and a three-bed series reactor (S-3). From economic analysis to estimate annual operating cost savings for three systems, it was found that multi-bed series reactors (S-2 and S-3) performed better than a single-bed reactor (S-1) due to equilibrium shift by Le Chatelier's principle leading to reduced operating temperatures to produce the same amount of CaF2 as S-1. Consequently, annual cost savings of about 7 to 13% were obtained in S-2 and S-3 compared to S-1 and this can serve as a useful guideline for the efficient system design. (c) 2017 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.