1932

Abstract

Large-scale deployment of negative emissions technologies (NETs) that permanently remove CO from the atmosphere is now considered essential for limiting the global temperature increase to less than 2°C by the end of this century. One promising NET is direct air capture (DAC), a technology that employs engineered chemical processes to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide, potentially at the scale of billions of metric tons per year. This review highlights one of the two main approaches to DAC based on aqueous solvents. The discussion focuses on different aspects of DAC with solvents, starting with the fundamental chemistry that includes the chemical species and reactions involved and the thermodynamics and kinetics of CO binding and release. Chemical engineering aspects are also discussed, including air–liquid contactor design, process development, and technoeconomic assessments to estimate the cost of the DAC technologies. Various solvents employed in DAC are reviewed, from aqueous alkaline solutions (NaOH, KOH) to aqueous amines, amino acids, and peptides, along with different solvent regeneration methods, from the traditional thermal swinging to the more exploratory carbonate crystallization with guanidines or electrochemical methods.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-092120-023936
2022-06-07
2024-04-19
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/chembioeng/13/1/annurev-chembioeng-092120-023936.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-092120-023936&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. 1.
    Intergov. Panel Clim. Change 2021. Climate change 2021: the physical science basis Rep., Intergov. Panel Clim. Change Geneva: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/
  2. 2.
    Natl. Acad. Sci. Eng. Med 2019. Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
  3. 3.
    Wilcox J, Renforth P, Kraxner F, eds 2020. The Role of Negative Emission Technologies in Addressing Our Climate Goals Lausanne, Fr.: Front. Media
  4. 4.
    Kramer D. 2020. Negative carbon dioxide emissions. Phys. Today 73:144–51
    [Google Scholar]
  5. 5.
    McQueen N, Gomes KV, McCormick C, Blumanthal K, Pisciotta M, Wilcox J. 2021. A review of direct air capture (DAC): scaling up commercial technologies and innovating for the future. Prog. Energy 3:032001
    [Google Scholar]
  6. 6.
    Custelcean R. 2021. Direct air capture of CO2via crystal engineering. Chem. Sci. 12:12518–28
    [Google Scholar]
  7. 7.
    Gambhir A, Tavoni M. 2019. Direct air carbon capture and sequestration: how it works. One Earth 1:405–9
    [Google Scholar]
  8. 8.
    Sanz-Pérez ES, Murdock CR, Didas SA, Jones CW. 2016. Direct capture of CO2 from ambient air. Chem. Rev. 116:11840–76
    [Google Scholar]
  9. 9.
    Hansen J, Sato M, Kharecha P, von Schuckmann K, Beerling DJ et al. 2017. Young people's burden: requirement of negative CO2 emissions. Earth Syst. Dynam. 8:577–616
    [Google Scholar]
  10. 10.
    Davis SJ, Lewis NS, Shaner M, Aggarwal S, Arent D et al. 2018. Net-zero emissions energy systems. Science 360:eaas9793
    [Google Scholar]
  11. 11.
    Custelcean R, Williams NJ, Wang X, Garrabrant KA, Martin HJ et al. 2020. Dialing in direct air capture of CO2 by crystal engineering of bisiminoguanidines. ChemSusChem 13:6381–90
    [Google Scholar]
  12. 12.
    Sefidi VS, Luis P. 2019. Advanced amino acid-based technologies for CO2 capture: a review. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 58:20181–94
    [Google Scholar]
  13. 13.
    Shi X, Xiao H, Azarabadi H, Song J, Wu X et al. 2020. Sorbents for the direct capture of CO2 from ambient air. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 59:6984–7006
    [Google Scholar]
  14. 14.
    Deutz S, Bardow A. 2021. Life-cycle assessment of an industrial direct air capture process based on temperature-vacuum swing adsorption. Nat. Energy 6:203–13
    [Google Scholar]
  15. 15.
    Lackner K, Ziock HJ, Grimes P. 1999. Carbon dioxide extraction from air: Is it an option? Paper presented at 24th Annual Technical Conference on Coal Utilization and Fuel Systems. Mar. 8–11 Clearwater, FL:
    [Google Scholar]
  16. 16.
    Zeman FS, Lackner KS. 2004. Capturing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. World Resour. Rev. 16:157–72
    [Google Scholar]
  17. 17.
    Zeman F. 2007. Energy and material balance of CO2 capture from ambient air. Environ. Sci. Technol. 41:7558–63
    [Google Scholar]
  18. 18.
    Spector NA, Dodge BF. 1946. Removal of carbon dioxide from atmospheric air. Trans. Am. Inst. Chem. Eng. 42:827–48
    [Google Scholar]
  19. 19.
    Holmes G, Keith DW. 2012. An air-liquid contactor for large-scale capture of CO2 from air. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A 370:4380–403
    [Google Scholar]
  20. 20.
    Keith D, Mahmoudkhani M, Biglioli A, Hart B, Heidel K, Foniok M. 2015. Carbon dioxide capture method and facility US Patent 9,095,813 B2
  21. 21.
    Keith DW, Holmes G, St. Angelo D, Heidel KA 2018. Process for capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. Joule 2:1573–94
    [Google Scholar]
  22. 22.
    Barzagli F, Giorgi C, Mani F, Peruzzini M. 2020. Screening study of different amine-based solutions as sorbents for direct CO2 capture from air. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 8:14013–21
    [Google Scholar]
  23. 23.
    Kiani A, Jiang K, Feron P. 2020. CO2 capture from air using a conventional liquid-based absorption process. Front. Energy Res. 8:92
    [Google Scholar]
  24. 24.
    Xiang Q, Fang M, Yu H, Maeder M. 2012. Kinetics of the reversible reaction of CO2(aq) and HCO3 with sarcosine salt in aqueous solution. J. Phys. Chem. A 116:10276–84
    [Google Scholar]
  25. 25.
    Guo D, Thee H, Tan CY, Chen J, Fei W et al. 2013. Amino acids as carbon capture solvents: chemical kinetics and mechanism of the glycine + CO2 reaction. Energy Fuels 27:3898–904
    [Google Scholar]
  26. 26.
    Shariff AM, Shaikh MS 2017. Aqueous amino acid salts and their blends as efficient absorbents for CO2 capture. Energy Efficient Solvents for CO2 Capture by Gas-Liquid Absorption WM Budzianowski 117–51 Cham, Switz: Springer
    [Google Scholar]
  27. 27.
    Sefidi VS, Luis P. 2019. Advanced amino acid-based technologies for CO2 capture: a review. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 58:20181–94
    [Google Scholar]
  28. 28.
    Brethomé FM, Williams NJ, Seipp CA, Kidder MK, Custelcean R. 2018. Direct air capture of CO2 via aqueous-phase absorption and crystalline-phase release using concentrated solar power. Nat. Energy 3:553–59
    [Google Scholar]
  29. 29.
    Custelcean R, Williams NJ, Garrabrant KA, Agullo P, Brethomé FM et al. 2019. Direct air capture of CO2 with aqueous amino acids and solid bis-iminoguanidines (BIGs). Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 58:23338–46
    [Google Scholar]
  30. 30.
    Garrabrant KA, Williams NJ, Holguin E, Brethomé FM, Tsouris C, Custelcean R. 2019. Energy-efficient CO2 capture from flue gas by absorption with amino acids and crystallization with a bis-iminoguanidine. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 58:10510–15
    [Google Scholar]
  31. 31.
    Jones CW. 2018. Organic agents offer innovation. . Nat. Energy 3:539–40
    [Google Scholar]
  32. 32.
    Seipp CA, Williams NJ, Kidder MK, Custelcean R. 2017. CO2 capture from ambient air by crystallization with a guanidine sorbent. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 56:1042–45
    [Google Scholar]
  33. 33.
    Gianopoulos CG, Chua Z, Zhurov VV, Seipp CA, Wang X et al. 2019. Direct air capture of CO2—topological analysis of the experimental electron density (QTAIM) of the highly insoluble carbonate salt of a 2,6-pyridine-bis(iminoguanidine), (PyBIGH2)(CO3)(H2O)4. IUCrJ 6:56–65
    [Google Scholar]
  34. 34.
    Custelcean R. 2020. Iminoguanidines: from anion recognition and separation to carbon capture. Chem. Commun. 56:10272–80
    [Google Scholar]
  35. 35.
    Williams NJ, Seipp CA, Brethomé FM, Ma Y-Z, Ivanov AS et al. 2019. CO2 capture via crystalline hydrogen-bonded bicarbonate dimers. Chem 5:719–30
    [Google Scholar]
  36. 36.
    Custelcean R, Garrabrant KA, Agullo P, Williams NJ. 2021. Direct air capture of CO2 with aqueous peptides and crystalline guanidines. Cell Rep. Phys. Sci. 2:100385
    [Google Scholar]
  37. 37.
    Sharifian R, Wagterveld RM, Digdaya IA, Xiang C, Vermaas DA. 2021. Electrochemical carbon dioxide capture to close the carbon cycle. Energy Environ. Sci. 14:781–814
    [Google Scholar]
  38. 38.
    Shu Q, Legrand L, Kuntke P, Tedesco M, Hamelers VM. 2020. Electrochemical regeneration of spent alkaline absorbent from direct air capture. Environ. Sci. Technol. 54:8990–98
    [Google Scholar]
  39. 39.
    Sabatino F, Mehta M, Grimm A, Gazzani M, Gallucci F et al. 2020. Evaluation of direct air capture process combining wet scrubbing and bipolar membrane electrodialysis. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 59:7007–20
    [Google Scholar]
  40. 40.
    Aghaie M, Rezaei N, Zendehboudi S. 2018. A systematic review on CO2 capture with ionic liquids: current status and future prospects. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 96:502–25
    [Google Scholar]
  41. 41.
    Heldebrant DJ, Koech PK, Glezakou V-A, Rousseau R, Malhorta D, Cantu DC. 2017. Water-lean solvents for post-combustion CO2 capture: fundamentals, uncertainties, opportunities, and outlook. Chem. Rev. 117:9594–624
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-092120-023936
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-092120-023936
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error