An overview of CO2 capture technologies

TLDR

The paper reviews three leading large‑scale CO₂ capture technologies—solvent‑based chemisorption, carbonate looping, and oxyfuel—and explores alternatives such as CO₂ recycling for C1 products. It examines each technology’s technical aspects, advantages and disadvantages, evaluates ionic liquids as environmentally benign solvents, and discusses systems‑engineering approaches for design. The authors assess the maturity of each option, highlight knowledge gaps, and propose future research directions.

Abstract

In this paper, three of the leading options for large scale CO2 capture are reviewed from a technical perspective. We consider solvent-based chemisorption techniques, carbonate looping technology, and the so-called oxyfuel process. For each technology option, we give an overview of the technology, listing advantages and disadvantages. Subsequently, a discussion of the level of technological maturity is presented, and we conclude by identifying current gaps in knowledge and suggest areas with significant scope for future work. We then discuss the suitability of using ionic liquids as novel, environmentally benign solvents with which to capture CO2. In addition, we consider alternatives to simply sequestering CO2—we present a discussion on the possibility of recycling captured CO2 and exploiting it as a C1 building block for the sustainable manufacture of polymers, fine chemicals, and liquid fuels. Finally, we present a discussion of relevant systems engineering methodologies in carbon capture system design.