A Review of CO2 Capture by Absorption and Adsorption

Received: May 15, 2012
Revised: August 6, 2012
Accepted: August 6, 2012
Download Citation: RIS|BibTeX|https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2012.05.0132  

Cite this article:

Yu, C.H., Huang, C.H. and Tan, C.S. (2012). A Review of CO2 Capture by Absorption and Adsorption. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 12: 745-769. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2012.05.0132

ABSTRACT

Global warming resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases, especially CO₂, has become a widespread concern in the recent years. Though various CO₂ capture technologies have been proposed, chemical absorption and adsorption are currently believed to be the most suitable ones for post-combustion power plants. The operation of the chemical absorption process is reviewed in this work, together with the use of absorbents, such as the ionic liquid, alkanolamines and their blended aqueous solutions. The major concerns for this technology, including CO₂ capture efficiency, absorption rate, energy required in regeneration, and volume of absorber, are addressed. For adsorption, in addition to physical adsorbents, various mesoporous solid adsorbents impregnated with polyamines and grafted with aminosilanes are reviewed in this work. The major concerns for selection of adsorbent, including cost, adsorption rate, CO₂ adsorption capacity, and thermal stability, are compared and discussed. More effective and less energy-consuming regeneration techniques for CO₂-loaded adsorbents are also proposed. Future works for both absorption and adsorption are suggested.

Keywords: CO2 capture; Absorption; Rotating packed bed; Adsorption; Amine-based adsorbents