Current status and future scenarios of carbon capture from power plants emission: a review

Abstract

The emission from power plants highly contributes to the increase of CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere. Enhancing the utilization of renewable energy and improving energy efficiency are widely considered to be a key to reduce emissions, however, certain solutions need time to be implemented. Carbon Capture and Storage is considered as a crucial solution for the situation that contributes to reduce the ultimate emission. Most studies have dealt with the current available technologies such as pre-combustion capture, post-combustion capture, and oxyfuel combustion. Several challenges of Carbon Capture technologies are being addressed without being given more attention to the optimum solution. Although post-combustion capture is considered one of the best options to be retrofitted to a power plant, the challenges of the processes and the possible solutions have not been dealt with in depth. This review article investigates the three techniques (pre-combustion, post-combustion, and oxyfuel combustion) to identify the best option to be used for CO₂ capture from the power plant. The gap in the field of decarbonization for researchers and policy makers has been identified and a future roadmap has therefore been proposed. Post-combustion capture is the best option for carbon capture from power plants. Solvent selection, process configuration, and process emissions to environment need to be resolved for better capture results. Three future scenarios are hereby proposed, the recirculation of the clean flue gas, synergistic effect of different solvents or replacement of stripper unit with ultrasound technique.

Graphical abstract