The Advances of Post-Combustion CO2 Capture with Chemical Solvents: Review and Guidelines

Carbon dioxide is the major greenhouse gas that contributes to the global warming more than 60%. Carbon dioxide from power plants is one of the main sources. Therefore it is essential to reduce the CO2 emission from power plant flue gas. Post-combustion carbon capture is the optimal choice in near-to meddle-term, since it does not need to change the configuration of the power plants essentially. Chemical absorption with amine-based solvents is currently the state-of-the-art technology for post-combustion carbon capture. This paper introduces the typical CO2 amine absorption process and analyses the main problems during the absorption process. To make the process more efficient, several improvements were investigated: increasing gas-liquid contacting area, searching for new type of reactant, and dilution of the aqueous fraction with organic liquids. The present study aims to summarize the improvements in amine scrubbing process for CO2 capture and forecast the promising research directions in the future. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier