Economic and energetic analysis of capturing CO[subscript 2] from ambient air
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House-2011-Economic and energet.pdf
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Author(s)
House, Kurt Zenz
Baclig, Antonio C.
Ranjan, Manya
van Nierop, Ernst A.
Wilcox, Jennifer
Herzog, Howard J.
Date Issued
December 2011
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Citation
House, K. Z. et al. “Economic and Energetic Analysis of Capturing CO2 from Ambient Air.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108.51 (2011): 20428–20433. Copyright ©2011 by the National Academy of Sciences
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (“air capture”) in an industrial process has been proposed as an option for stabilizing global CO[subscript 2] concentrations. Published analyses suggest these air capture systems may cost a few hundred dollars per tonne of CO[subscript 2], making it cost competitive with mainstream CO[subscript 2] mitigation options like renewable energy, nuclear power, and carbon dioxide capture and storage from large CO[subscript 2] emitting point sources. We investigate the thermodynamic efficiencies of commercial separation systems as well as trace gas removal systems to better understand and constrain the energy requirements and costs of these air capture systems. Our empirical analyses of operating commercial processes suggest that the energetic and financial costs of capturing CO[subscript 2] from the air are likely to have been underestimated. Specifically, our analysis of existing gas separation systems suggests that, unless air capture significantly outperforms these systems, it is likely to require more than 400 kJ of work per mole of CO[subscript 2], requiring it to be powered by CO[subscript 2]-neutral power sources in order to be CO[subscript 2] negative. We estimate that total system costs of an air capture system will be on the order of $1,000 per tonne of CO[subscript 2], based on experience with as-built large-scale trace gas removal systems.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
MIT Energy Initiative
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1012253108
