Growing concerns about the impact of CO₂ emissions on global climate change have prompted increased research attention on the development of new technologies for carbon dioxide capture. Postcombustion capture, oxygen-fired combustion, and precombustion capture are among the most popular of the currently used approaches, although most of these are still in small-scale applications. The overall goal of PCO₂C is to identify and help commercialize a range of CO₂ capture technology systems that can be implemented into the electric utility fleet to meet environmental emission constraints and the requirements of CO₂ sequestration.

In Phase I of PCO₂C, the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) conducted pilot-scale demonstration testing of selected CO₂ separation and capture technologies for fossil fuel and biomass-fired systems. Phase I was aimed at providing industry with key technical and economic information that can be used to examine the feasibility of technologies as a function of fuel type and system configuration. The technologies tested in the pilot-scale systems at the EERC included solvent scrubbing, solid sorbents, and oxygen-fired combustion. The second phase of PCO₂C will involve continued and new research for the promising technologies identified during Phase I. Phase II will utilize the information gathered during Phase I for the development of lower-cost and more effective capture technologies as well as their integration into a total system that provides substantial economic and environmental benefits.

About CO₂ Capture
As concerns are raised about the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, especially CO₂, industries are investigating ways to decrease their carbon footprint while simultaneously increasing the bottom line. These methods include improving process efficiencies, switching to fuels with lower fossil carbon content, and capturing the CO₂ produced for either beneficial reuse or permanent storage.

There are three major categories of CO₂ capture technologies: precombustion capture, postcombustion capture, and oxycombustion capture. Precombustion CO₂ capture typically occurs within a gasification operation, although membrane separation is also being investigated.

CO₂ capture can occur during combustion through an oxy-fired combustion process. By firing a fossil fuel in an environment where the nitrogen is replaced with oxygen, a higher concentration of CO₂ is produced. The high CO₂ concentration in the flue gas makes it much simpler to compress and store or use.

Postcombustion CO₂ capture is the most common platform for CO₂ capture. Several types of postcombustion capture processes have been and are being developed to separate and remove CO₂ from a flue gas stream. These methods and processes include absorption, adsorption, separation membranes, cryogenic processes, and other methods that include mineralization for either disposal or to produce a mineral product.

More information on CO₂ capture can be found at the U.S. Energy Information Agency’s Web site in a publication on CO₂ emissions. Also, the EERC recently performed a survey of CO₂ capture technologies and current legislation and regulatory activity in the field.

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• EERC Team (PCO₂C Contacts)
• PCO₂C Program Partners/Sponsors