Solvents for Membrane-Based Post-Combustion CO2 Capture for Potential Application in the Marine Environment

Abstract

Carbon capture on-board ships represents a powerful technological measure in order for the shipping industry to meet the very stringent GHG emission reduction requirements. Operation within the ship environment introduces a number of constraints associated mainly with space, energy supply, and safety which have to be addressed using compact yet efficient solutions. To this end, solvent-based membrane CO2 capture offers several advantages and has the necessary technological maturity for on-board installation. Solvent choice remains a critical issue both for reasons associated with process efficiency as well as on-board safety. In this paper, we present an up-to-date comprehensive review of the different solvents that can be used for post-combustion CO2 capture. Furthermore, we investigated the solvents’ performance as determined by their inherent characteristics, properties, and behavior for a range of operating conditions against the strict shipping requirements. A preliminary qualitative comparative assessment was carried out based on appropriately selected key performance indicators (KPIs) pertinent to the requirements of the shipping industry. The identified solvent classes were compared using the most critical KPIs for system integration with the ship. It was concluded that at present, no solvent category can efficiently address all the requirements of the ship. However, widely used solvents such as secondary amines showed relatively good compatibility with the majority of the introduced KPIs. On the other hand, more recently developed molecules, such as phase change solvents and ionic liquids, can easily prevail over the vast majority of the identified solvents as long as they are brought to the same level of technological maturity with benchmark solvents. Such a conclusion points toward the need for accelerating research on more tailor-made and performance-targeted solvents.

Synthesizing and Characterizing a Mesoporous Silica Adsorbent for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture in a Fixed-Bed System

“…Following the combustion of fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, coal, and diesel) or other carbon-based substance sources (biomass such as wood), CO 2 gas is drawn out of the flue gases in the process. Post-combustion CO 2 capture can be accomplished using various techniques, such as chemical absorption [6,7], cryogenic separation [8,9], membrane-based separation [10,11], and adsorption separation procedures [1,12]. One of these techniques, amine-based CO 2 capture, has been extensively utilized in commercial-scale CO 2 capture plants [13,14] because of its advantages.…”

Mitigation of Ship Emissions: Overview of Recent Trends

“…For above-ground industries, post-combustion capture systems, such as adsorption, physical/chemical absorption, membranes, and cryogenic separation, represent a non-negligible fraction of the cost of purchasing and installing a compliant plant . The carbon capture technologies being considered for ships could be based on those once used to remove sulfur from flue gases. , Since the use of low-sulfur fuels such as LNG, desulfurized diesel, or biofuels will eventually become widespread, a minimal retrofit requiring no different equipment than that used to abate sulfur would be sufficient. , The captured CO 2 could be stored on board in fixed tanks or containers until the gas is handled at onshore or offshore storage sites, e.g., underwater CO 2 lakes . Ocean-going vessels would need offshore infrastructure, such as offshore shuttling vessels or liquefied gas carriers, to transport the gas between the vessels and the ports/storage sites .…”

“…154,155 The captured CO 2 could be stored on board in fixed tanks 155 or containers 155 until the gas is handled at onshore or offshore storage sites, e.g., underwater CO 2 lakes. 156 Ocean-going vessels would need offshore infrastructure, such as offshore shuttling vessels or liquefied gas carriers, to transport the gas between the vessels and the ports/ storage sites. 154 The captured CO 2 is transported to existing land-based infrastructure via pipelines, tankers, and inland barges to the market.…”

Parametrical Assessment of Polyacrylamide Polymer Membrane Used for CO2 Post-Combustion Capture

“…Among different carbon-capture processes, post-combustion CO 2 recovery is believed to be the most effective and flexible technology to be integrated with coal power plants without creating crucial retrofitting [6,7]. Many separation technologies can be integrated to mitigate CO 2 contents from flue gas streams, such as chemical absorption, physical absorption, physical adsorption, and membranes [8][9][10][11][12].…”