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Environ. Sci. Technol.

2007, 41, 7558-7563

storage technologies would be the same used in conventional


Energy and Material Balance of CO2 CCS. A detailed review of storage options is found in the
Capture from Ambient Air IPCC report on CCS (1). Novel to this approach is that capture
is separated from emission. This fixes the concentration of
the source to atmospheric levels, currently about 380 parts
FRANK ZEMAN* per million of CO2. Since the CO2 content of the air is spatially
Columbia University, Department of Earth and constant, capture devices could be installed anywhere. It is
Environmental Engineering, 918 Mudd MC 4711, worth noting that atmospheric CO2 levels may double in this
500 West 120th Street, New York, New York 10027 century. The higher source concentration would make
capture proportionally easier.
Scrubbing ambient air as a means of reducing greenhouse
gas emissions was first suggested in 1999 (3). The concept
Current Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies itself, however, is considerably older. The removal of CO2
focus on large, stationary sources that produce approximately from ambient air itself was first studied in the 1940s by Spector
50% of global CO2 emissions. We propose an industrial and Dodge (4) using a packed tower with an alkaline sorbent.
technology that captures CO2 directly from ambient air to Other scientists later focused on the creation of synthetic
target the remaining emissions. First, a wet scrubbing fuels from atmospheric CO2 and, in particular, on the unit
technique absorbs CO2 into a sodium hydroxide solution. energy consumed by the process. The unit energy provides
The resultant carbonate is transferred from sodium ions to an estimate of the thermodynamic efficiency of the process.
In 1977, Steinberg conducted a paper study for producing
calcium ions via causticization. The captured CO2 is
methanol using nuclear energy and estimated that a packed
released from the calcium carbonate through thermal tower would require 101.2 kJe/mol CO2 captured (5). Similar
calcination in a modified kiln. The energy consumption is studies estimated that at least 88 kJe/mol CO2 is required for
calculated as 350 kJ/mol of CO2 captured. It is dominated by the tower and 308 kJe/mol CO2 for regeneration of the sorbent
the thermal energy demand of the kiln and the mechanical through electrodialysis (6, 7). The energy requirement for
power required for air movement. The low concentration the entire process was estimated at a minimum of 400 kJe/
of CO2 in air requires a throughput of 3 million cubic meters mol CO2. The primary energy required to generate the
of air per ton of CO2 removed, which could result in electricity would be between 800 and 1200 kJ/mol of CO2,
significant water losses. Electricity consumption in the depending on power plant efficiency. While the total energy
process results in CO2 emissions and the use of coal power exceeds that available from typical carbonaceous fuels (4-
800 kJ/mol CO2), it does not render the process unfeasible.
would significantly reduce to net amount captured. The
The meter for Air Capture is the amount captured compared
thermodynamic efficiency of this process is low but to that emitted by the process. Purely renewable systems
comparable to other “end of pipe” capture technologies. have been considered (8); cost and intermittency are the
As another carbon mitigation technology, air capture could dominant concerns of these systems.
allow for the continued use of liquid hydrocarbon fuels
in the transportation sector. 2. Process Overview
Zeman and Lackner (9) have previously outlined a specific
method of Air Capture, shown schematically in Figure 1. The
1. Introduction previous work developed the scientific basis for this particular
Research into Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has recently air capture process by establishing its thermodynamic
been summarized in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate feasibility. The process is summarized in the following
Change (IPCC) Special Report on CCS (1). The report paragraphs. First, CO2 is absorbed by an alkaline NaOH
describes various technologies focused on emitters producing solution to produce dissolved sodium carbonate. The ab-
at least 0.1 Mt per year of CO2. All totaled, these sources sorption reaction is a gas liquid reaction, strongly exothermic,
produce 13.6 Gt of CO2 annually while global emissions are and shown in eq 1.
estimated at 25.7 Gt of CO2 (2). The nominal 90% capture
rate of most CCS technologies suggests that more than 50% 2NaOH(aq) + CO2(g) f Na2CO3(aq) + H2O(l)
of global emissions would remain unabated even if these ∆H° ) -109.4 kJ/mol (1)
were fully deployed. The remaining emissions, from dispersed
and often mobile sources, are not amenable to “end-of-pipe” The carbonate ion is removed from the solution by
CCS technologies and require other mitigation techniques. reaction with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2), which results in
Such emissions may be avoided entirely by substituting the precipitation of calcite (CaCO3). The causticization
electricity for carbonaceous fuels. Alternatively, carbon reaction is a mildly exothermic, aqueous reaction that occurs
dioxide can be captured from the atmosphere to compensate in an emulsion of calcium hydroxide. It is presented as eq 2.
for the emission generated at the point of energy consump-
tion. Na2CO3(aq) + Ca(OH)2(s) f 2NaOH(aq) + CaCO3(s)
CCS is divided into two components, capture and storage, ∆H° ) -5.3 kJ/mol (2)
connected by a conduit carrying CO2 at high purity levels.
The exact CO2 concentration will depend on specific condi- Causticization is performed ubiquitously in the pulp and
tions of the storage site. Air Capture extends the concept of paper industry and readily transfers 94% of the carbonate
carbon capture from large concentrated sources, typically ions from the sodium to the calcium cation (10). Subse-
5-15% CO2, to dispersed and mobile sources. While it quently, the calcium carbonate precipitate is filtered from
provides a very different approach to carbon capture, the solution and thermally decomposed to produce gaseous CO2.
The calcination reaction is the only endothermic reaction in
* Phone: 212-854-7065;fax: 212-854-7081;e-mail: fsz1@columbia.edu. the process and is shown in eq 3.
7558 9 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / VOL. 41, NO. 21, 2007 10.1021/es070874m CCC: $37.00  2007 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 09/26/2007
CaCO3(s) f CaO(s) + CO2(g) ∆H°) + 179.2 kJ/mol (3)

The thermal decomposition of calcite is performed in a


lime kiln fired with oxygen in order to avoid an additional
gas separation step. Hydration of the lime (CaO) completes
the cycle. Lime hydration is an exothermic reaction that can
be performed with water or steam. Using water, it is a liquid/
solid reaction as shown in eq 4.

CaO(s) + H2O(l) f Ca(OH)2(s) ∆H° ) -64.5 kJ/mol (4)

The cycle of chemical reactions involved in the process


is presented in Table 1. As indicated by Figure 1, the process FIGURE 1. Schematic overview of air capture including Air
contains two recycle loops. Recycling of sodium hydroxide Separation Unit (ASU).
and calcium hydroxide is necessary as neither is a naturally
sourced mineral. NaOH is predominantly produced through
the electrolysis of sodium chloride with a small amount
produced via causticization (11). Calcium hydroxide is
produced from lime, in turn a product of the calcination of
limestone (12). Both of these processes currently result in
the emission of CO2 to the atmosphere, thus necessitating
sorbent recovery by virtue of the second law of thermody-
namics. Practically, materials cannot be recycled indefinitely
and will require some new feedstock. Apart from makeup
streams, the inputs to the process are air and energy. The
energy is provided in the form of electricity or fuel. The
outputs are compressed liquid CO2 derived from the air and
the combustion of the fuel, and air depleted of CO2 and/or
oxygen.
An important consideration is the overall energy balance FIGURE 2. Overview of air capture process.
of the process. The sum of all the reaction enthalpies listed
in Table 1 is zero. The enthalpy changes are given at standard of hydroxide ions. Hikita et al. (14) demonstrated that, under
conditions, but in the process outlined, the CO2 enters and these conditions, absorption functions as a first-order
leaves at different pressures. As a thermodynamic minimum, reaction, i.e., the flux into solution is proportional to
the energy cost is -RT ln (P2/P1) where P1 is the partial concentration of CO2 in the gas phase. According to Astarita
pressure of the input stream and P2 of the output stream. (15), the first-order absorption of CO2 into strong hydroxide
Given atmospheric CO2 levels of 380 ppm (13) at ambient solutions can be described by eq 5.
temperature (300 K) and a 1 bar output stream, we obtain
a minimum energy penalty of 19.6 kJ/mol. The actual penalty JCO2 ) xDLkd[OH-]KHFCO2 (5)
will be much higher as each individual process step, shown
in Figure 2, will have inefficiencies and limits to the amount In this equation JCO2 is the CO2 flux into solution per unit
of recoverable heat. area per unit time. The variables are presented in Table 2
and the equation can be solved to yield a flux of 30 µmol/
3. Capturing CO2 from Ambient Air m2/s. The alkalinity of the NaOH solution is limited by the
The challenge in removing CO2 from ambient air lies in its causticization reaction to 1 mol/L. This is not far from the
low concentration. It requires more gas to be moved through practical maximum of 2 mol/L, established by Tepe and
a larger absorber than with conventional flue gas scrubbing. Dodge (16), beyond which increases in hydroxide concen-
The volume of air passing through the absorber is controlled tration did not produce noticeable increases in CO2 absorp-
by the amount of CO2 targeted for removal as the concen- tion. The kinetic constant is an empirically derived function
tration is fixed. As an example, 133 m3 of ambient air must of the ionic strength; the detailed formula is contained in
be processed to capture 1 mole of CO2, assuming a 50% Astarita (15). The CO2 concentration of 0.0112 mol/m3
capture rate and 380 ppm (0.015 mol/m3) CO2 concentration. represents the average in an absorber that captures 50% of
The size of the absorber is a function of the rate of the throughput.
absorption, in turn controlled by the area of solution surface Figure 3 shows the instantaneous and cumulative average
exposed to the air flow and the solution alkalinity. The pH flux into a 1 M Na+ solution across a range of carbonate
of the solution affects the absorption per unit surface area concentrations. The cumulative average flux was calculated
while the structure dictates the surface area per unit volume. by averaging the instantaneous flux values up to that point.
As CO2 is absorbed, the solution is converted from NaOH to As can be seen from Figure 3, the cumulative average flux
Na2CO3. This lowers both the CO2 in the gas phase and the into a 1 molar NaOH solution can be held above 20 µmol/
OH in the liquid phase, both of which reduce the uptake rate m2/s even if one approaches complete conversion of OH- to
of the absorber. Absorbing more of the CO2 available in the carbonate ions. This value is above the 10 µmol/m2/s achieved
air reduces the total amount of air that must be passed by Spector and Dodge but still lower than the highest
through the absorber, while absorbing less reduces the area measured flux of 30 µmol/m2/s (15). To estimate the energy
of liquid covered surfaces required. The final design will be consumption of such a device we will use the previous
a balance between these two conflicting demands. estimate (7) of 88 kJe/mol CO2 for a packed tower. As an
The flux of CO2 into a hydroxide solution has been initial estimate, it may be considered a reasonable value that
previously studied and modeled. Spector and Dodge (4) does not consider technological innovations, such as struc-
showed experimentally that the absorption reaction is limited tured packing. However, a design that utilizes natural drafts
by the concentration of CO2 in the gas phase. The limitation would greatly reduce the energy consumption by avoiding
is likely kinetic as the solution still contains an abundance the fans needed for moving the air.

VOL. 41, NO. 21, 2007 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 9 7559
TABLE 1. Reaction Cycle for Na/Ca Air Capture
reaction ∆H° (kJ/mol) name type
2 NaOH(aq) + CO2(g) f Na2CO3(aq) + H2O(l) -109.4 absorption gas/liquid
Na2CO3(aq) + Ca(OH)2(s) f 2 NaOH(aq) + CaCO3(s) -5.3 causticization aqueous
CaCO3(s) f CaO(s) + CO2(g) +179.2 calcination gas/solid
CaO(s) + H2O(l) f Ca(OH)2(s) -64.5 hydration liquid/solid

Figure 4. The steam loop is heated via a heat exchanger driven


TABLE 2. Variables Used for CO2 Flux into NaOH Solution by the exothermic hydration reaction. Taking steam as the
variable measure value units ref input, the hydration reaction now releases 105.2 kJ of heat
per mol of lime at temperatures up to 400 °C (23), beyond
DL diffusivity of CO2 1.78 × 10-9 m2/s 17 which the reaction is reversed. This amount of thermal energy
in NaOH is capable of evaporating 2.6 mol of water, a moisture content
kd kinetic constant 6745 L/mol s 15
of 46%. This suggests that a steam dryer efficiency of 60%
[OH] hydroxide ion 1 mol/L 18
concentration results in no energy penalty for drying the filter cake. The
KH Henry’s constant 0.79 (mol/L)water/ 19 predicted moisture content of 28% (1.5 mole H2O/mol CaO)
(mol/L)air generates excess steam allowing for some heat recovery. A
pCO2 concentration 0.0112 mol/m3 13 successful pilot plant is not the same as an industrial scale
of CO2 facility but the technology can be considered viable.
Once dry, the calcite precipitate is thermally decomposed
in a kiln to regenerate the gaseous CO2. In order to maintain
4. Regeneration of Sorbent gas purity, this reaction will take place in a CO2 environment.
At the end of the capture phase, the CO2 is dissolved into The products are a CO2-rich gas and solid lime. Under these
solution in carbonate form and requires further processing conditions, the reaction temperature is 900 °C (24) and as
to produce a concentrated gas stream. The carbonate ions the highest process temperature, its energy penalty is
are removed from solution by causticization using calcium unavoidable. Oates has summarized the efficiencies of various
hydroxide, which simultaneously regenerates the absorbing lime kilns, and the flash calciner, suitable for micron-sized
solution. The low solubility of calcium carbonate results in particles, is rated at 70% efficient (12). The best kilns, however,
the formation of precipitates. The use of calcium thermo- reach efficiencies in excess of 90% (25). Here the efficiency
dynamically limits the alkalinity to 1 mol/L as higher values is defined as the enthalpy of reaction 3 over the actual energy
would precipitate calcium hydroxide rather than the desired consumption of the process. The solid product of the kiln is
calcium carbonate (18). At this [OH-] concentration, the CaO, which is reacted with steam from the drying step to
theoretical conversion from calcium hydroxide to carbonate complete the cycle.
has been calculated as 96% (9). Achieving a nearly complete We propose calcination in CO2 environment; however,
conversion of Ca(OH)2 to CaCO3 is important as any Ca- conventional kilns produce gas streams rich in nitrogen not
(OH)2 entering the kiln will be converted to CaO and consume CO2. To avoid a second capture system, the kiln is fired with
energy. The precise amount of energy lost will depend on oxygen using a CO2 sweep gas. This is a variation of oxygen
the efficiency of the process equipment as any Ca(OH)2 combustion for power generation and is expected to improve
converted to CaO in the kiln will be subsequently re-hydrated kiln efficiency (26) by avoiding heat losses associated with
with some energy recovery. the nitrogen. The use of oxygen for enhanced combustion
The resultant precipitate is removed from solution and has been shown to improve kiln efficiency by 10% (27). The
dried prior to calcination. The filter cake can be dewatered most economical source of oxygen is cryogenic distillation,
by mechanical and thermal methods. It is important to which requires 25 kJe/mol of O2 of electrical energy input
dewater the precipitate outside of the rotary kiln as the (28). The amount of oxygen used will depend on the efficiency
evaporation of water requires a large energy input and of the kiln and the type of fuel.
increases fuel consumption. A separate drying process also The overall energy balance can now be estimated using
facilitates recovery of the enthalpy of vaporization and makes the numbers presented above. The energy required to
steam available for the hydration reaction. Mechanical circulate the hydroxide solution is related solely to the
dewatering through vacuum or pressure filtration of the wet pumping height. It can be shown to be less than 1 kJe/mol
precipitate can remove a significant fraction of the water of CO2 (29) for heights less than 50 m. We assume a kiln
retained at a low energy penalty. Some thermal drying will efficiency of 70% as a conservative value representing current
be required to remove all water from the precipitate. technology for the expected particle size. The kiln requires
The efficiency of mechanical dewatering depends on the 256 kJ/mol heat and if the fuel is coal, containing ∼400 kJ/
physical characteristics of the precipitate. The irreducible mol (29), then the oxygen penalty is 16 kJe/mol CO2. Energy
moisture content of a filter cake is a function of the average is also required to compress the CO2 to 80 bar prior to storage.
particle size and consequently pore space. Research into This is an established technology and requires 12 kJe/mol of
calcite precipitation (18) found that particles generated at CO2 (30). The amount of CO2 stored will exceed the amount
room temperature ranged in size from 1 to 5 µm. Assuming captured from air because of the CO2 generated during
an average particle size of 3 µm and using data in the literature combustion. In the case of coal, 1.56 moles are stored for
(20, 21), we can estimate the moisture content of the filter every mole captured.
cake to be 28%. It is worth noting that the ideal moisture A summary of the energy requirements is presented in
content is not zero. To generate steam for hydrating the lime Table 3 and shows that the calcination reaction consumes
exiting the kiln, reaction 4, the ideal moisture content is 18% the most energy followed by the air blowers. Applying the
(18/100). heat released from the hydration reaction to the drying, the
A drying process piloted in the pulp and paper industry total energy requirement per mole CO2 captured is 225 kJ
is well suited to Air Capture (22). The system uses steam as thermal and 121 kJe electrical. As such, the primary energy
the drying fluid, which avoids a distinct drying fluid and required ranges from 470 to 570 kJ/mol of CO2, about half
allows for steam hydration and energy recovery as shown in that reported by Bandi et al. (7). Again, natural draft systems

7560 9 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / VOL. 41, NO. 21, 2007
FIGURE 3. Evolution of CO2 flux of 1 M NaOH at 380 ppm CO2.

our results to this previous work with the aim of highlighting


the most important areas for future work. The comparison
with work by Keith et al. (31) and Baciocchi et al. (32) is
presented in Table 4.
The first item is Air Contacting, which refers to the energy
consumed by the pumps and blowers in the absorption tower.
The system proposed by Baciocchi et al. is different in that
they assume 500 ppm CO2 concentrations. The higher
ambient concentration results in a lower throughput for a
similar capture rate. For a fixed geometry, the throughput is
proportional to the velocity and the power required is
proportional to the velocity cubed. To make a direct
comparison, the energy listed by Baciocchi et al. would have
to be scaled to the atmospheric conditions used by Bandi et
al. This factor (500/355)3 can be applied to the 30 kJ/mol
FIGURE 4. Steam dryer including (1) steam loop, (2) condensing listed to produce a value of 84 kJ/mol CO2 captured. The
heat exchanger, (3) hydration heat exchanger, and (4) bleed valve. result is similar to our estimate and significantly higher than
that of Keith et al. The two values provide a range of
TABLE 3. Summary of Energy Requirements for Air Capture possibilities with ours being more conservative than that of
Keith et al. One important consideration is that the benefits
item energy (kJ/mol) percent total type of a passive draft system, considered later, decrease with the
energy required energy consumed during capture. If the energy penalty is as
low as Keith et al. suggest, then there is little benefit to a
air movement 88 19.9% electrical passive system.
cryogenic oxygen 16 3.6% electrical
drying precipitate 63 14.3% thermal
Keith et al. assume that the sodium carbonate solution
calcination 256 57.9% thermal must be heated to improve the kinetics of causticization.
CO2 compression 19 4.3% electrical This requires an additional 96 kJ/mol of CO2 that does not
total 442 100% show up in the analysis of Zeman and Baciocchi et al. During
separate experimentation, we determined that improving
causticization kinetics was not necessary as this reaction is
energy available
not the rate-limiting step (33). The evaporation of water to
heat of hydration 105 23.8% thermal dry the filter cake consumes as much heat as the calcination
reaction in the analysis of both Keith et al. and Baciocchi et
al. The reason is the assumed moisture content of 50% and
could reduce primary energy consumption to 350 kJ/mol
that the evaporation is done inside the kiln. The magnitude
CO2 by eliminating the blowers. The electrical conversion
of this heat input is the reason we adopted a separate drying
efficiencies used were 35% and 48% (1).
process using more innovative technologies, as shown in
Figure 4. Table 4 clearly shows that effective drying and low-
5. Results and Discussion moisture content filter cake is an important aspect of Air
5.1 Other Air Capture Systems. Lackner et al. (3) first Capture. The energy required for calcination is similar in all
proposed the removal of CO2 from ambient air for the cases and contains some uncertainty. Oxygen calcination is
purposes of carbon capture and storage in 1999. Other an unproven technology and also an important research
researchers have performed energy and material analyses focus.
on air capture systems based on absorption with sodium As mentioned earlier, conventional kilns use air as the
and regeneration using calcium solids. We have compared oxygen source. A “CO2 purification” procedure is necessary

VOL. 41, NO. 21, 2007 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 9 7561
TABLE 4. Comparison of Energy Requirements (in kJ/mol) for TABLE 5. Mass Ratio for Components of Air Capture Reference
Air Capture System
item Zeman Keith et al. Baciocchi et al. CO2 CaO Ca(OH)2
energy required 1 1.3 1.7
air contacting 88 12 30 CaCO3 sorbent solution ambient air
causticization 0 96 0
evaporation 63 180 202 2.3 190 3,000
calcination (eff.) 256 (70%) 204 (88%) 239 (75%)
CO2 purificationa 16 168 27
CO2 compression 19 19 18 TABLE 6. Moles of CO2 Released from Electricity Generation
total 442 679 516 Per Mole Captured
energy available
heat of hydration 105 0 0 air movement total
a O2 production (Zeman, Baciocchi et al.), MEA capture (Keith et al.) electricity oxygen and forced 50% forced 50%
source compression draft passive draft passive
natural gas 0.08 0.20 0.10 0.28 0.18
to elevate the CO2 concentrations in the process. Keith et al. coal 0.17 0.42 0.21 0.59 0.38
chose to add an amine scrubbing process, effectively a second
gas-separation process. Baciocchi et al. and our analysis used system is presented in Table 5. The comparison shows that
high-purity oxygen to avoid the amine process with a much air movement and sorbent recirculation dominate the mass
lower energy penalty. The reason is related to the origin of balance.
the CO2 in the kiln. During calcination, CO2 is released from One mass flow not considered is evaporative losses. Dry
the calcium carbonate and produced from the oxidation of air can hold 17 g of water vapor per m3 at 20 °C (35). The total
the fuel. For an oxygen system, electrical energy is required water loss associated with capturing 1 ton of CO2 based on
to produce sufficient oxygen to combust the fuel. In contrast, a 3,000,000 m3 throughput could be 50 tons. This is indeed
amine systems must capture all of the CO2, both calcination significant. The water loss assumes 0% relative humidity,
and oxidation. Considering a kiln running at 90% efficiency and any background humidity would reduce it proportionally.
and fired by natural gas, we can see that amine scrubbing By comparison, the equivalent maximum water loss at 10 °C
is concerned with five times the CO2 of an oxygen system. would be 26 tons and further reduced to 13 tons if the relative
Essentially, in an oxygen system, the calcination CO2 is along humidity is 50%. This suggests that placement of any Air
for the ride and is not a penalty. The energy penalty for oxygen Capture device would include average annual temperature,
production in Baciocchi et al. is higher than that in this paper relative humidity, and rainfall in the location criteria.
because of the extra heat required for drying. Increasing the alkalinity of the absorbing solution can further
The total energy required for Air Capture is similar among reduce the water losses although this would complicate the
the three analyses, especially if the causticization and amine process by introducing a dilution/concentration step between
penalties are removed from Keith et al. It is important to the capture device and causticizer (36).
note that the reason is coincidental offsets, which highlights 5.3 Emissions from Electricity Generation. The net
the need for future work on the concept. It also suggests the amount of CO2 sent to storage by such a facility, disregarding
most important unknowns are the moisture content of the leakage, will depend on the source of the electricity. Renew-
filter cake and feasibility of oxygen calcination. While neither able energy, such as wind, could be used and the negligible
is conceptually difficult, experimental results will determine emissions would be balanced against higher cost and
which assumption was correct. Reviewing Table 4 we can intermittency. The emissions from fossil fuel electricity plants
see that calcination, oxygen production, and CO2 compres- can be estimated by using the representative values contained
sion cannot be avoided. These three processes require a in Table TS.3 of the IPCC Special Report (1). The listed value
minimum of 230 kJ/mol of CO2 captured, assuming a 90% for a natural gas combined cycle plant is 0.367 kg CO2/kWh,
efficient, coal fired kiln. The other penalties must be which can be converted to 2.3 mmol/kJe. Similarly, a
minimized to optimize the process. The heat released by conventional pulverized coal plant produces 0.762 kg CO2/
steam hydration is not trivial and could ensure that no kWh or 4.8 mmol CO2/kJe. The emissions for any combination
additional heat is required for drying. can be obtained by multiplying the fraction of generation
5.2 Relative Mass Flows. This paper outlines the mass capacity by the representative emissions factor.
flows associated with capturing CO2 from the air. The The electricity consumption of the process can be divided
complete system will also be required to move air through into process needs and air movement. The first, CO2
the device and provide a wetted surface area. Assuming a compression and oxygen production, cannot be avoided.
50% capture rate, we are required to move 3,000,000 m3 of The electricity consumption associated with the air blowers
air over 315,000 m2 of surface for each ton of CO2 captured. can be reduced or eliminated by using passive air movement
The total volume of sorbent required is dependent on its or newer, more efficient tower designs. Table 6 shows the
capacity to hold CO2 and the film thickness, as the efficient CO2 emissions due to electricity generation for each mole of
use of surface area requires that it is constantly wetted. CO2 captured.
Chemically, we require 45 m3 of 1 mol/L NaOH solution to 5.4 Thermodynamic Efficiency. The feasibility of air
hold 1 ton of CO2. Physically, we require 190 m3 of solution capture can be quantified using the concept of thermody-
to wet the surface, using a minimum film thickness of 0.6 namic efficiency. This refers to the ratio of the thermodynamic
mm (34). Distributing 1 ton of CO2 evenly throughout the minimum energy requirement to the actual amount of energy
larger volume results in a 0.75 mol/L NaOH solution, which used in the process. We will compare air capture to
maintains high flux values (eq 5). established capture technologies, not as a direct comparison,
The mass balance for such an Air Capture system is rather how well each achieves its objective. MEA flue gas
available by including the solids handling component. Recall, scrubbing is considered the industry standard and consumes
from Table 1, that the mass of lime and limestone relate to roughly 172 kJ/mol CO2 of thermal energy and 9 kJe/mol of
the CO2 captured through their molar mass. The relative mass electrical energy (37). Advanced amine sorbents, such as KS-
of the CO2, lime, limestone, sorbent solution, and air for this 1, require only 132 kJ/mol CO2 of thermal energy for

7562 9 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / VOL. 41, NO. 21, 2007
bicarbonate solutions. Chem. Eng. J. 1976, 11, 131-141.
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MEA KS-1 hydroxide solutions in a packed column. Trans. Am. Inst. Chem.
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on a natural gas plant. This does not include the energy for their influence on dewatering of kaolin, calcite and quartz
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(22) Hanson, C.; Theliander, H.; Wimby, M. Steam drying and
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