In this work, the plant-wide process to produce diethyl carbonate (DEC) from the direct reaction of CO₂ with ethanol, which uses 2-cyanopyridine (2-CP) as an in situ dehydrating agent, is proposed for the first time. Rigorous design, optimization, ability in carbon reduction, techno-economic and feasibility analyses are all performed in this work. The process consists of two sections. The first one is the main section, in which DEC is generated, along with the removal of water using 2-CP to form 2-picolinamide (2-PA). The second one is the regeneration section, where 2-CP is converted back from 2-PA and recycled. Using simulated annealing method, the optimized CO₂ reduction rate in the main section is 0.237 (Ton CO₂/Ton DEC generated) on an annual basis. We identify that when the regeneration section is operated with a molar ratio of mesitylene to 2-PA being less than 2.05, the overall process can be in net CO₂ reduction. Under the constraint of 90 % regeneration of 2-CP as reported in available literature, the produced DEC can match the current market price range under 15 % internal rate of return (IRR), if 2-CP can be obtained with a price lower than 2.56 USD/kg (corresponding to DEC price of 1.10 USD/kg and ethanol price of 0.37 USD/kg) to 6.09 USD/kg (corresponding to DEC price of 1.90 USD/kg and ethanol price of 0.56 USD/kg).

在这项工作中，首次提出了在工厂范围内由CO ₂与乙醇直接反应生产碳酸二乙酯（DEC）的方法，该方法使用2-氰基吡啶（2-CP）作为原位脱水剂。严格的设计，优化，减少碳排放的能力，技术经济性和可行性分析都在这项工作中进行。该过程包括两个部分。第一个是主要部分，在其中生成DEC，并使用2-CP除去水以形成2-picolinamide（2-PA）。第二个是再生部分，其中2-CP从2-PA转换回并循环利用。使用模拟退火方法，主要部分的最佳CO ₂还原速率为0.237（吨CO ₂/吨DEC生成）。我们确定，当再生段在1，3，5-三甲基苯与2-PA的摩尔比小于2.05的条件下操作时，整个过程可以是净CO ₂减少。在现有文献报道的2-CP再生90％的约束下，如果能够以低于20％的价格获得2-CP，则生产的DEC可以在15％内部收益率（IRR）下与当前市场价格范围相匹配。 2.56美元/千克（对应于DEC价格1.10美元/千克和乙醇价格0.37美元/千克）至6.09美元/千克（对应DEC价格1.90美元/千克和乙醇价格0.56美元/千克）。