An air CO2 capture system based on the passive carbonation of large Ca(OH)2 structures

Sequestration of CO 2 , either from gas mixtures or directly from air (direct air capture), is a technological goal important to large-scale industrial processes such as gas purification and the mitigation of carbon emissions. Previously, we investigated five porous materials, three porous metal–organic materials (MOMs), a benchmark inorganic material, Zeolite 13X and a chemisorbent, TEPA-SBA-15 , for their ability to adsorb CO 2 directly from air and from simulated flue-gas. In this contribution, a further 10 physisorbent materials that exhibit strong interactions with CO 2 have been evaluated by temperature-programmed desorption for their potential utility in carbon capture applications: four hybrid ultramicroporous materials, SIFSIX-3-Cu , DICRO-3-Ni-i , SIFSIX-2-Cu-i and MOOFOUR-1-Ni ; five microporous MOMs, DMOF-1 , ZIF-8 , MIL-101 , UiO-66 and UiO-66-NH 2 ; an ultramicroporous MOM, Ni-4-PyC . The performance of these MOMs was found to be negatively impacted by moisture. Overall, we demonstrate that the incorporation of strong electrostatics from inorganic moieties combined with ultramicropores offers improved CO 2 capture performance from even moist gas mixtures but not enough to compete with chemisorbents. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Coordination polymers and metal–organic frameworks: materials by design’.

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Climate change mitigation measures for global net-zero emissions and the roles of CO2 capture and utilization and direct air capture

Energy and Climate Change ◽

10.1016/j.egycc.2021.100057 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. 100057

Author(s):

Keigo Akimoto ◽

Fuminori Sano ◽

Junichiro Oda ◽

Haruo Kanaboshi ◽

Yuko Nakano

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Co2 Capture ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Direct Air Capture ◽

Net Zero ◽

Air Capture ◽

Change Mitigation

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How (Carbon) Negative Is Direct Air Capture? Life Cycle Assessment of an Industrial Temperature-Vacuum Swing Adsorption Process

10.26434/chemrxiv.12833747 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Deutz ◽

André Bardow

Keyword(s):

Energy Source ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Large Scale ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Direct Air Capture ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Negative Emissions ◽

Air Capture

Current climate targets require negative emissions. Direct air capture (DAC) is a promising negative emission technology, but energy and materials demands lead to trade-offs with indirect emissions and other environmental impacts. Here, we show by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that the first commercial DAC plants in Hinwil and Hellisheiði can achieve negative emissions already today with carbon capture efficiencies of 85.4 % and 93.1 %. Climate benefits of DAC, however, depend strongly on the energy source. When using low-carbon energy, as in Hellisheiði, adsorbent choice and plant construction become important with up to 45 and 15 gCO2e per kg CO2 captured, respectively. Large-scale deployment of DAC for 1 % of the global annual CO2 emissions would not be limited by material and energy availability. Other environmental impacts would increase by less than 0.057 %. Energy source and efficiency are essential for DAC to enable both negative emissions and low-carbon fuels.

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Carbon Purchase Agreements, Dactories, and Supply-Chain Innovation: What Will It Take to Scale-Up Modular Direct Air Capture Technology to a Gigatonne Scale

Frontiers in Climate ◽

10.3389/fclim.2021.636657 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

David Izikowitz

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Supply Chain ◽

Large Scale ◽

Manufacturing Industry ◽

Scale Up ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Scale Production ◽

Solid Sorbent ◽

Direct Air Capture ◽

Air Capture

Natural and engineered carbon dioxide removal have become regular features of climate models which limit warming to 1.5°C or even 2°C above pre-industrial levels. This gives rise to an assumption that solutions, for example direct air capture (DAC)—involving the direct removal of carbon dioxide from ambient air—can be commercialised and deployed at the necessary speed and scale to have a material impact, in the order of gigatonnes, by mid-century. Modular, solid-sorbent DAC on a gigatonne scale will require the mass mobilisation of supply chains to manufacture millions of modular DAC units−20 million of the present state of the art 50 tonne/year modules to deliver 1 gigatonne per year, as well as the large-scale production of novel chemical sorbents. To achieve a climate relevant DAC industry will demand innovative procurement models, for example carbon purchase agreements (CPAs), and dedicated DAC manufacturing facilities or dactories. In addition, insight is offered through the work of DAC start-up Carbon Infinity into the industry supply-chain position, adopting lessons from computing, and energy technologies. In particular, we look at approaches to drive demand and scale-up DAC module production, and opportunities presented in the development of an integrated DAC manufacturing industry.

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The 1.5°C Target, Political Implications, and the Role of BECCS

10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.585 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sabine Fuss

Keyword(s):

Carbon Capture ◽

Large Scale ◽

Carbon Budget ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

Carbon Capture And Storage ◽

Direct Air Capture ◽

Prime Concern ◽

Negative Emissions ◽

Air Capture ◽

And Storage

The 2°C target for global warming had been under severe scrutiny in the run-up to the climate negotiations in Paris in 2015 (COP21). Clearly, with a remaining carbon budget of 470–1,020 GtCO2eq from 2015 onwards for a 66% probability of stabilizing at concentration levels consistent with remaining below 2°C warming at the end of the 21st century and yearly emissions of about 40 GtCO2 per year, not much room is left for further postponing action. Many of the low stabilization pathways actually resort to the extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere (known as negative emissions or Carbon Dioxide Removal [CDR]), mostly by means of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS): if the biomass feedstock is produced sustainably, the emissions would be low or even carbon-neutral, as the additional planting of biomass would sequester about as much CO2 as is generated during energy generation. If additionally carbon capture and storage is applied, then the emissions balance would be negative. Large BECCS deployment thus facilitates reaching the 2°C target, also allowing for some flexibility in other sectors that are difficult to decarbonize rapidly, such as the agricultural sector. However, the large reliance on BECCS has raised uneasiness among policymakers, the public, and even scientists, with risks to sustainability being voiced as the prime concern. For example, the large-scale deployment of BECCS would require vast areas of land to be set aside for the cultivation of biomass, which is feared to conflict with conservation of ecosystem services and with ensuring food security in the face of a still growing population.While the progress that has been made in Paris leading to an agreement on stabilizing “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and “pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C” was mainly motivated by the extent of the impacts, which are perceived to be unacceptably high for some regions already at lower temperature increases, it has to be taken with a grain of salt: moving to 1.5°C will further shrink the time frame to act and BECCS will play an even bigger role. In fact, aiming at 1.5°C will substantially reduce the remaining carbon budget previously indicated for reaching 2°C. Recent research on the biophysical limits to BECCS and also other negative emissions options such as Direct Air Capture indicates that they all run into their respective bottlenecks—BECCS with respect to land requirements, but on the upside producing bioenergy as a side product, while Direct Air Capture does not need much land, but is more energy-intensive. In order to provide for the negative emissions needed for achieving the 1.5°C target in a sustainable way, a portfolio of negative emissions options needs to minimize unwanted effects on non–climate policy goals.

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The Potential Role of Direct Air Capture in the German Energy Research Program—Results of a Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Energies ◽

10.3390/en12183443 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (18) ◽

pp. 3443 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Peter Viebahn ◽

Alexander Scholz ◽

Ole Zelt

Keyword(s):

Dimensional Analysis ◽

Research Program ◽

Large Scale ◽

Potential Role ◽

Early Stage ◽

Energy Research ◽

Stage Of Development ◽

Direct Air Capture ◽

Air Capture

A significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions will be necessary in the coming decades to enable the global community to avoid the most dangerous consequences of man-made global warming. This fact is reflected in Germany’s 7th Federal Energy Research Program (EFP), which was adopted in 2018. Direct Air Capture (DAC) technologies used to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere comprise one way to achieve these reductions in greenhouse gases. DAC has been identified as a technology (group) for which there are still major technology gaps. The intention of this article is to explore the potential role of DAC for the EFP by using a multi-dimensional analysis showing the technology’s possible contributions to the German government’s energy and climate policy goals and to German industry’s global reputation in the field of modern energy technologies, as well as the possibilities of integrating DAC into the existing energy system. The results show that the future role of DAC is affected by a variety of uncertainty factors. The technology is still in an early stage of development and has yet to prove its large-scale technical feasibility, as well as its economic viability. The results of the multi-dimensional evaluation, as well as the need for further technological development, integrated assessment, and systems-level analyses, justify the inclusion of DAC technology in national energy research programs like the EFP.

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How (Carbon) Negative Is Direct Air Capture? Life Cycle Assessment of an Industrial Temperature-Vacuum Swing Adsorption Process

10.26434/chemrxiv.12833747.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Deutz ◽

André Bardow

Keyword(s):

Energy Source ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Large Scale ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Direct Air Capture ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Negative Emissions ◽

Air Capture

Current climate targets require negative emissions. Direct air capture (DAC) is a promising negative emission technology, but energy and materials demands lead to trade-offs with indirect emissions and other environmental impacts. Here, we show by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that the first commercial DAC plants in Hinwil and Hellisheiði can achieve negative emissions already today with carbon capture efficiencies of 85.4 % and 93.1 %. Climate benefits of DAC, however, depend strongly on the energy source. When using low-carbon energy, as in Hellisheiði, adsorbent choice and plant construction become important with up to 45 and 15 gCO2e per kg CO2 captured, respectively. Large-scale deployment of DAC for 1 % of the global annual CO2 emissions would not be limited by material and energy availability. Other environmental impacts would increase by less than 0.057 %. Energy source and efficiency are essential for DAC to enable both negative emissions and low-carbon fuels.

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Amine-Grafted Silica Gels for CO2 Capture Including Direct Air Capture

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research ◽

10.1021/acs.iecr.9b05228 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 59 (15) ◽

pp. 7072-7079 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

John-Timothy Anyanwu ◽

Yiren Wang ◽

Ralph T. Yang

Keyword(s):

Co2 Capture ◽

Silica Gels ◽

Direct Air Capture ◽

Air Capture

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Direct air capture of CO2: A response to meet the global climate targets

MRS Energy & Sustainability ◽

10.1557/s43581-021-00005-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mihrimah Ozkan

Keyword(s):

Energy Source ◽

Carbon Capture ◽

Large Scale ◽

Global Climate ◽

High Capacity ◽

Capital Costs ◽

Oil Companies ◽

Operational Costs ◽

Direct Air Capture ◽

Air Capture

Highlights DAC can help deal with difficult to avoid emissions. Large-scale deployment of DAC requires serious government, private, and corporate support and investment particularly to offset the capital cost as well as operational costs. Further optimizations to the costs can be found in choice of energy source as well as advances in CO2 capture technology such as high capacity and selectivity materials, faster reaction kinetics, and ease of reusability. Abstract Direct air capture (DAC) technologies are receiving increasing attention from the scientific community, commercial enterprises, policymakers and governments. While deep decarbonization of all sectors is required to meet the Paris Agreement target, DAC can help deal with difficult to avoid emissions (aviation, ocean-shipping, iron-steel, cement, mining, plastics, fertilizers, pulp and paper). While large-scale deployment of DAC discussions continues, a closer look to the capital and operational costs, different capture technologies, the choice of energy source, land and water requirements, and other environmental impacts of DAC are reviewed and examined. Cost per ton of CO2 captured discussions of leading industrial DAC developers with their carbon capture technologies are presented, and their detailed cost comparisons are evaluated based on the choice of energy operation together with process energy requirements. Validation of two active plants’ net negative emission contributions after reducing their own carbon footprint is presented. Future directions and recommendations to lower the current capital and operational costs of DAC are given. In view of large-scale deployment of DAC, and the considerations of high capital costs, private investments, government initiatives, net zero commitments of corporations, and support from the oil companies combined will help increase carbon capture capacity by building more DAC plants worldwide. Graphic abstract

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Future Prospects of Direct Air Capture Technologies: Insights From an Expert Elicitation Survey

Frontiers in Climate ◽

10.3389/fclim.2021.630893 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Soheil Shayegh ◽

Valentina Bosetti ◽

Massimo Tavoni

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Expert Elicitation ◽

Integrated Assessment Model ◽

Assessment Model ◽

Policy Support ◽

Direct Air Capture ◽

Air Capture ◽

Over Time ◽

Future Growth

Direct air capture (DAC) technologies are promising but speculative. Their prospect as an affordable negative emissions option that can be deployed in large scale is particularly uncertain. Here, we report the results of an expert elicitation about the evolution of techno-economic factors characterizing DAC over time and across climate scenarios. This is the first study reporting technical experts' judgments on future costs under different scenarios, for two time periods, for two policy options, and for two different DAC technologies. Experts project CO2 removal costs to decline significantly over time but to remain expensive (median by mid-century: around 200 USD/tCO2). Nonetheless, the role of direct air capture in a 2°C policy scenario is expected to be significant (by 2050: 1.7 [0.2, 5.9] GtCO2)1. Projections align with scenarios from integrated assessment model (IAM) studies. Agreement across experts regarding which type of DAC technology might prevail is low. Energy usage and policy support are considered the most critical factors driving these technologies' future growth.

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