Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Capture

CO2 capture—the first step in the process of controlling CO2 emissions from industrial sources—involves separating the CO2 from combustion exhaust gases, or in some cases from fuel gases before combustion, at large industrial facilities such as power plants, oil refineries, and cement plants.

Currently these types of facilities do not capture CO2. However, CO2 separation processes are used in the food and beverage industry—for soft drink carbonation, for example—and in natural gas processing, fertilizer manufacture, and other chemical industries. Adapting these processes to capture CO2 from large industrial combustion sources is currently the subject of considerable research. In particular, researchers are seeking new approaches to CO2 capture that use less energy, take up less space, and cost less.