Carbon Dioxide Capture: Prospects for New Materials

TLDR

The growing atmospheric CO₂ concentration is a critical environmental issue, and while carbon capture and storage from large point sources can reduce emissions, it currently raises plant energy demands by 25–40 % and hinges on developing advanced materials for effective separations. This review surveys the main capture pathways—post‑combustion CO₂/N₂ separation, pre‑combustion CO₂/H₂ capture, and natural‑gas sweetening CO₂/CH₄—and examines recent advances in solvents, adsorption, membranes, and especially metal‑organic frameworks for CO₂ separation.

Abstract

The escalating level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is one of the most pressing environmental concerns of our age. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) from large point sources such as power plants is one option for reducing anthropogenic CO(2) emissions; however, currently the capture alone will increase the energy requirements of a plant by 25-40%. This Review highlights the challenges for capture technologies which have the greatest likelihood of reducing CO(2) emissions to the atmosphere, namely postcombustion (predominantly CO(2)/N(2) separation), precombustion (CO(2)/H(2)) capture, and natural gas sweetening (CO(2)/CH(4)). The key factor which underlies significant advancements lies in improved materials that perform the separations. In this regard, the most recent developments and emerging concepts in CO(2) separations by solvent absorption, chemical and physical adsorption, and membranes, amongst others, will be discussed, with particular attention on progress in the burgeoning field of metal-organic frameworks.