1 CO₂ Capture – A Brief Review of Technologies and Its Integration

       Mónica García1, Theo Chronopoulos2, and Rubén M. Montañés3

       1International Energy Agency‐ Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG), Pure Offices, Hatherley Lane, Cheltenham, GL51 6SH, United Kingdom

       2128/15 Hoxton Street, N1 6SH, London, United Kingdom

       3Energy Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Hörsalsvägen 7B, SE‐412 96, Gothenburg, Sweden

1.1 Introduction: The Role of Carbon Capture

The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) recently released the special report on 1.5C [1] and pointed out the need to implement all available tools to cut down CO₂ emissions. Energy efficiency, fuel switching, renewables, and carbon capture represent the largest impact on CO₂ emission reduction in power and industrial sectors. Carbon capture represents a contribution of 23% in the “Beyond 2 degrees scenario” (B2DS) modeled by the International Energy Agency (IEA)¹ and has other interesting characteristics that increase its value beyond its cost: (i) easiness to retrofit current power plants or industrial facilities,² (ii) simplicity to integrate that in the electricity grid and offer an interesting tool to cover the intermittency of renewables, (iii) ideal to cut down industrial process emissions that otherwise cannot suffer deep reductions, and (iv) current carbon budgets rely on negative emissions to compensate the use of fossil fuels [1]. Carbon capture combined with bioenergy (BECCS) can provide negative emissions at large scale in an immediate future.

      CO₂ capture (also called CO₂ sequestration or carbon capture) involves a group of technologies aiming to separate CO₂ from other compounds released during the production of energy or industrial products, obtaining a CO₂‐rich gas that can be stored or used for the obtention of valuable products. The main classification of CO₂ capture technologies relies on where in the process the CO₂ separation occurs. For the power sector, it can be divided into pre‐, oxy‐, and post‐combustion. For the industrial sector, the classification is similar, although their integration would be different. In addition, other new arrangements are emerging.

1.2 CO₂ Capture Technologies

      1.2.1 Status of CO₂ Capture Deployment

GCCSI reported in 2018 23 large‐scale CCS facilities in operation or under construction globally, summing up 37 MtCO₂ per year. This wide range of facilities shows the versatility of CO₂ capture processes.³

      In the power sector, the United States is leading the implementation deployment, although Europe has the highest CO₂ capture capacity. The Boundary Dam project (Canada) and Petra Nova (USA) are pioneers in reaching commercial scale. Moreover, based on the successful results of the Boundary Dam project, a CO₂ capture facility has been planned for the Shand power facility (Canada), incorporating not only learnings from the Boundary Dam but also enhanced thermal integration and tailored design. The results show a significant cost reduction [2]. Also in Canada, the Quest project completes the list of Canadian CCS projects in operation [3] and The National Energy Laboratory (NET) power project recently appeared in the United States as a potential significant reduction on CO₂ capture costs [4].

      In the industrial sector, cement, steel, refining, chemicals, heavy oil, hydrogen, waste‐to‐energy, fertilizers, and natural gas have been identified by the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF; https://www.cslforum.org) as the main intensive emitter industries. As it is highlighted, the Norcem Brevik plant