Carbon Capture Technology

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the process of either removing carbon from the atmosphere (Carbon Removal or Direct Air Capture) or preventing it from entering it in the first place (Carbon Capture at point source). Carbon is a by-product of many industrial processes and many manufacturers are looking at ways they can deliver to net-zero carbon goals. Carbon Capture can help reduce carbon emissions which is a direct cause of global warming. Carbon Capture is an important weapon in our arsenal to fight against climate change.

Direct Air Capture and Storage (DAC+S) is a carbon removal solution: it captures CO₂ directly from the air, which is then permanently stored or used as an industrial ingredient. Post combustion capture is the most popular form of carbon capture as fossil fuel power plants can be retrospectively fitted with CCS technology.

Carbon capture & storage (CCS) is an approach that can help to reduce emissions as it captures fossil CO₂ from point sources, preventing it from entering the atmosphere. Capturing technologies include post-combustion, pre-combustion, and oxy-fuel.

Direct Air Capture technology uses rotating equipment such as vacuum pumps to draw in air from the atmosphere to allow the Carbon within the air to bond to chemicals known as sorbents. The sorbent are then heated to release the captured carbon dioxide.

Direct Air Capture and Storage (DAC+S) is a carbon removal solution: it captures CO₂ directly from the air, which is then permanently stored or used as an industrial ingredient. Post combustion capture is the most popular form of carbon capture as fossil fuel power plants can be retrospectively fitted with CCS technology.

Direct Air Capture (DAC) is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the atmosphere and generating a stream of carbon dioxide (CO2) for sequestration or utilization for production of carbon-neutral fuel and windgas.

Carbon dioxide is removed when the ambient air makes contact with chemical media, typically sortbents or an aqueous alkaline solvent. The chemical media are subsequently stripped of the carbon dioxide through the application of heat, resulting in dehydration and compression.

Pre-combustion capture is the process of removing carbon before combustion is completed. This process is often applied in fossil-fuel power plants or processes that are heavy producers of CO2 such as fertilizer and chemical manufacturing or waste incineration.

CO2 is captured from the gases in the flue or other point sources. Industrial pre-combustion carbon capture is more widespread and currently used on smaller than would be required in a power plant.

In pre-combustion carbon capture, when the fossil fuel is partially oxidized, for example a gasifier, the CO from the resulting syngas (CO and H2) reacts with added steam (H2O) and is shifted into CO2 and H2. The CO2 can then be captured from a relatively pure exhaust stream. The H2 can be used as fuel; the CO2 is removed before combustion.

There are advantages and disadvantages to pre-combustion versus post combustion capture. CO2 is removed after combustion, but before the flue gas reaches atmospheric pressure. This process is standard and at the same scale as required for power plants in the majority of CO2 capture processes within industrial application.

As the name would suggest, post-combustion capture is the removal of CO2 from fossil fuels after combustion. Carbon is captured from the point of source in the flue gas; typically at fossil fuel power stations. This mature technology is used in a variety of small and medium scale carbon heavy industrial applications. The technology has a huge advantage of being retrofittable to existing systems that produce Carbon. Significantly reducing their CO2 output.

Post combustion carbon capture removes CO2 via Amines ( organic compounds that contain nitrogen atoms with a lone pair). There are many types of amines, with various characteristics relevant to CO2 capture. One such example is monoethanolamine (MEA) which reacts very  strongly with gases that are acidic such as CO2. Monoethanolamine has a fast reaction time which enables it to remove a relatively high proportion of CO2, even in flows that may have a lower CO2 concentration, making it a highly effective option for CO2 removal.

Oxy-fuel combustion burns fuel in pure oxygen. In order to limit the flame temperatures to levels seen during more conventional combustion, the cooled flue gas is recirculated and injected into the combustion chamber. The majority of oxy-fuel flue gas consists of water vapour and CO2. The water vapour is condensed through cooling. This results in an almost pure stream of CO2.

Oxy-fuel combustion within Power plant processes can be referred to as "zero emission" cycles. This is due to the fact that the CO2 stored is not a fraction of the amount removed from pre- and post-combustion capture flue gas streams. A small fraction of the CO2 inevitably ends up in the condensed water. To w which will need to be treated or disposed of appropriately to warrant the label "zero emission".

Carbon capture & storage (CCS) is an approach that can help to reduce emissions as it captures fossil CO₂ from point sources, preventing it from entering the atmosphere. Capturing technologies include post-combustion, pre-combustion, and oxy-fuel.

Direct air capture & storage (DAC+S) is a carbon removal solution: it captures CO₂ directly from the air, which is then permanently stored or used as an industrial ingredient.