Advancing Adsorption and Membrane Separation Processes for the Gigaton Carbon Capture Challenge

Abstract

Reducing CO2 in the atmosphere and preventing its release from point-source emitters, such as coal and natural gas-fired power plants, is a global challenge measured in gigatons. Capturing CO2 at this scale will require a portfolio of gas-separation technologies to be applied over a range of applications in which the gas mixtures and operating conditions will vary. Chemical scrubbing using absorption is the current state-of-the-art technology. Considerably less attention has been given to other gas-separation technologies, including adsorption and membranes. It will take a range of creative solutions to reduce CO2 at scale, thereby slowing global warming and minimizing its potential negative environmental impacts. This review focuses on the current challenges of adsorption and membrane-separation processes. Technological advancement of these processes will lead to reduced cost, which will enable subsequent adoption for practical scaled-up application.

Performance of a hybrid solvent of amino acid and ionic liquid for CO 2 capture

“…In the past several decades, absorption, adsorption, and membrane-based separation have been investigated for the postcombustion CO 2 capture (Mondal et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2011;Wilcox et al, 2014;Yu et al, 2012). Among these technologies, amine-based absorption process is proposed to be the most applicable technology for CO 2 capture before 2030 (Rochelle, 2009).…”

Perspective—Low-Carbon Electricity Is Great: What about “Less-Carbon”?

“…It constitutes 50-90% of the overall chain cost of CCS. [29][30][31][32] Technologically, the most advanced commercial option for CO 2 capture from N 2 -rich flue streams is chemical separation in alkyl alkanolamine solutions such as monoethanolamine (MEA). However, this benchmark process is costly and energy intensive.…”

“…The minimum energies theoretically required to capture CO 2 from coal and natural gas combustion plant streams are 31-44 kWh/ton CO 2 and 38-57 kWh/tonCO 2 , respectively. 9,32 Practical energy penalties for CO 2 capture are significantly higher. Indeed, energy penalty for CO 2 separation can demand 25-40% of the energy produced at the power plant and make up 70% of the additional cost for CCS.…”

Decoupling microporosity and nitrogen content to optimize CO2 adsorption in melamine–resorcinol–formaldehyde xerogels

“…In recent years, several technologies have been developed to capture or concentrate CO2, such as membrane separations [3][4][5][6] , hydrate-based separations [7][8][9] , cryogenic distillations 6,10,11 , absorption systems 6,[12][13][14][15][16] and adsorption processes 6,15,[17][18][19][20][21][22] . Absorption processes have been widely applied industrially, however, solid sorbents for adsorption systems offer improvements on these systems and are promising alternatives for CO2 capture from flue gases.…”