Economic and environmental benefit analysis of a renewable energy supply system integrated with carbon capture and utilization framework

The recent focus on energy-related environmental issues, such as the depletion of fossil fuels and the climate change, has led to a pressing need for sustainable energy supply systems. Existing systems may, in theory, be revamped into sustainable systems by including new components such as renewable energy sources (RES) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU) frameworks. However, economically and environmentally optimal mechanisms for the integration of RES and CCU frameworks into existing energy systems have yet to be determined. Therefore, this study presents a new approach to sustainable energy supply systems by integrating a RES-based system with existing technologies, coupled with a CCU framework. To address both economic and environmental benefits of the proposed system, a multi-objective optimization technique comprising two objective functions (total daily cost and the total CO₂ emission) was developed using a mixed integer linear programming (MILP). The capability of the proposed model is illustrated by a case study of the future transportation sector in Korea. The Pareto solutions for the optimal energy supply system were identified according to CO₂ reduction targets under different energy price scenarios.