Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is broadly recognised as having the potential to play a key role in meeting climate change targets, delivering low carbon heat and power, decarbonising industry and, more recently, its ability to facilitate the net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. However, despite this broad consensus and its technical maturity, CCS has not yet been deployed on a scale commensurate with the ambitions articulated a decade ago. Thus, in this paper we review the current state-of-the-art of CO2 capture, transport, utilisation and storage from a multi-scale perspective, moving from the global to molecular scales. In light of the COP21 commitments to limit warming to less than 2 °C, we extend the remit of this study to include the key negative emissions technologies (NETs) of bioenergy with CCS (BECCS), and direct air capture (DAC). Cognisant of the non-technical barriers to deploying CCS, we reflect on recent experience from the UK's CCS commercialisation programme and consider the commercial and political barriers to the large-scale deployment of CCS. In all areas, we focus on identifying and clearly articulating the key research challenges that could usefully be addressed in the coming decade.

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Carbon capture and storage (CCS): the way forward

Carbon dioxide capture-related gas adsorption and separation in metal-organic frameworks

In recent years, Carbon Capture and Storage (Sequestration) (CCS) has been proposed as a potential method to allow the continued use of fossil-fuelled power stations whilst preventing emissions of CO2 from reaching the atmosphere. Gas, coal (and biomass)-fired power stations can respond to changes in demand more readily than many other sources of electricity production, hence the importance of retaining them as an option in the energy mix. Here, we review the leading CO2 capture technologies, available in the short and long term, and their technological maturity, before discussing CO2 transport and storage. Current pilot plants and demonstrations are highlighted, as is the importance of optimising the CCS system as a whole. Other topics briefly discussed include the viability of both the capture of CO2 from the air and CO2 reutilisation as climate change mitigation strategies. Finally, we discuss the economic and legal aspects of CCS.

Carbon capture and storage update

Structure and nanostructure in ionic liquids.

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.

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An overview of CO2 capture technologies

Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are nonvolatile, tunable solvents that have generated significant interest across a wide variety of engineering applications. The use of RTILs as media for CO2 separations appears especially promising, with imidazolium-based salts at the center of this research effort. The solubilities of gases, particularly CO2, N2, and CH4, have been studied in a number of RTILs. Process temperature and the chemical structures of the cation and anion have significant impacts on gas solubility and gas pair selectivity. Models based on regular solution theory and group contributions are useful to predict and explain CO2 solubility and selectivity in imidazolium-based RTILs. In addition to their role as a physical solvent, RTILs might also be used in supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs) as a highly permeable and selective transport medium. Performance data for SILMs indicates that they exhibit large permeabilities as well as CO2/N2 selectivities that outperform many polymer membra...

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Guide to CO2 Separations in Imidazolium-Based Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids

Clean energy production has become one of the most prominent global issues of the early 21st century, prompting social, economic, and scientific debates regarding energy usage, energy sources, and sustainable energy strategies. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, specifically carbon dioxide (CO2), figures prominently in the discussions on the future of global energy policy. Billions of tons of annual CO2 emissions are the direct result of fossil fuel combustion to generate electricity. Producing clean energy from abundant sources such as coal will require a massive infrastructure and highly efficient capture technologies to curb CO2 emissions. Current technologies for CO2 removal from other gases, such as those used in natural gas sweetening, are also capable of capturing CO2 from power plant emissions. Aqueous amine processes are found in the vast majority of natural gas sweetening operations in the United States. However, conventional aqueous amine processes are highly energy intensive; their imp...

Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids and Composite Materials: Platform Technologies for CO2 Capture

Solutions of room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) and commercially available amines were found to be effective for the capture of CO2 as carbamate salts. RTIL solutions containing 50 mol % (16% v/v) monoethanolamine (MEA) are capable of rapid and reversible capture of 1 mol of CO2 per 2 moles MEA to give an insoluble MEA−carbamate precipitate that helps to drive the capture reaction (as opposed to aqueous amine systems). Diethanolamine (DEA) can also be used in the same manner for CO2 capture in RTILs containing a pendant hydroxyl group. The captured CO2 in the resulting RTIL−carbamate salt mixtures can be readily released by either heating and/or subjecting them to reduced pressure. Using this unprecedented and industrially attractive mixing approach, the desirable properties of RTILs (i.e., nonvolatility, enhanced CO2 solubility, lower heat capacities) can be combined with the performance of amines for CO2 capture without the use of specially designed, functionalized “task-specific” ionic liquids. By ...

Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid−Amine Solutions: Tunable Solvents for Efficient and Reversible Capture of CO2

This study focuses on bulk fluid solubility of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), hydrogen (H2), and nitrogen (N2) gases in the imidazolium-based RTILs:  1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([emim][Tf2N]), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([emim][BF4]), 1-n-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([hmim][Tf2N]), and 1,3-dimethylimidazolium methyl sulfate ([mmim][MeSO4]) as a function of temperature (25, 40, 55, and 70 °C) at near-atmospheric pressures. The experimental behaviors are explained in terms of thermodynamic relationships that account for the negligible vapor pressure of the RTIL as well as the low solubilities of the gases. Results show that, as temperature increases, the solubility of CO2 decreases in all RTILs, the solubility of CH4 remains constant in [emim][Tf2N] and [hmim][Tf2N] but increases in [mmim][MeSO4] and [emim][BF4], and the solubility of N2 and H2 increases. Also, the ideal solubility selectivity (ratio of pure-componen...

Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Temperature Dependence of Gas Solubility Selectivity

The ability to predict the solubility of gases in room-temperature ionic liquids, RTILs, would be very useful in determining the most efficient RTIL to use in an industrial process. This work uses data from CO2 and C2H4 solubility measurements to show that regular solution theory can be used to model gas solubilities in RTILs at low pressures. This work further discusses how changes in pressure and temperature affect the solubility of gases in RTILs.

Dean Camper

Papers

Guide to CO2 Separations in Imidazolium-Based Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids

Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids and Composite Materials: Platform Technologies for CO2 Capture

Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid−Amine Solutions: Tunable Solvents for Efficient and Reversible Capture of CO2

Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Temperature Dependence of Gas Solubility Selectivity

Gas Solubilities in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids