2025 AIChE Annual Meeting

(234g) Driving Toward Sustainability: Multiscale Modeling and Optimization in the Energy-Materials-Mobility Transition Nexus.

Authors

Betsie Montano Flores - Presenter, Texas A&M University
Marco De Sousa, Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering
Rahul Kakodkar, Texas A&M University
Shayan Niknezhad, Texas A&M University
Efstratios Pistikopoulos, Texas A&M Energy Institute, Texas A&M University
Transitioning to a low-carbon energy future requires systemic changes in energy production, transportation, and the materials supporting new infrastructure. The current transportation system is heavily reliant on fossil fuels; decarbonizing it requires evaluating alternatives such as electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) [1]. This shift demands new infrastructure for power generation, grid expansion, and vehicle manufacturing, all of which drive material demand. However, sourcing and producing these materials introduces additional supply chain constraints, emissions, and costs [2,3]. Moreover, widespread electrification of mobility can stress the power sector due to increased electricity demand. These interdependencies underscore the need for a holistic approach, such as the energy-materials-mobility nexus.

In this work, we present a multiscale modeling and optimization framework to coordinate this nexus. The framework is formulated as a mixed-integer optimization model that integrates: (i) life cycle assessment (LCA) with material demand, availability, and lifetimes; (ii) EV charging strategies combined with energy storage and alternative baseload sources to reduce the need for excessive renewable capacity while maintaining grid reliability; and (iii) policy design involving carbon pricing. The model determines optimal configurations for energy, materials, and vehicle production while accounting for resource intermittency, emission targets, and policy scenarios. The proposed framework is applied to a case study considering the transition of the transportation fleet towards EVs in Texas, analyzing the role of resource availability and cost in electricity generation, storage, and dispatch. Through scenario analysis, different technology pathways and the interactions between energy, material, and mobility value chains are elucidated to determine configurations that exploit synergies between cost and emission factors [4,5].

References

[1] Osman Alp, Tarkan Tan, and Maximiliano Udenio. Transitioning to sustainable freight transportation by integrating fleet replacement and charging infrastructure decisions. Omega, 109:102595, 2022.

[2] J. Holechek, H. Geli, M. Sawalhah, R. Valdez, A. G. Assessment, Can renewable energy replace fossil fuels by 2050? sustainability 14 (2022) 4792.

[3] Takuma Watari, Benjamin C McLellan, Damien Giurco, Elsa Dominish, Eiji Yamasue, and Keisuke Nansai. Total material requirement for the global energy transition to 2050: A focus on transport and electricity. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 148:91–103, 2019.

[4] R. Kakodkar, B. Flores, M. Sousa, Y. Lin, E. Pistikopoulos, Towards energy and material transition integration systematic multi-scale modeling and optimization framework, 2024, pp. 461–468. doi:10.69997/sct.171988.

[5] Rahul Kakodkar and Efstratios Pistikopoulos. Energiapy-an open source python package for multiscale modeling & optimization of energy systems. In 2023 AIChE Annual Meeting. AIChE, 2023.