On the feasibility of precompression for direct atmospheric cryogenic carbon capture

Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture is a crucial approach to reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to directly combat climate change. Major components of the technology to desublimate CO2 at cryogenic temperatures are mature and have the potential to be applied to build large Artic/Antarctic direct-air CO2 capture plants. The discussion of precompression of atmospheric air for a direct-air capture CO2 system using an attached “waste-cool” precooler is examined in this study. In this novel approach, a thermodynamic model based on psychrometric theories is evaluated to determine the required work input of the system at various inlet compression ratios and various inlet temperatures. Turbine recovery is also considered for the potential to capture waste energy. The results show that precompression integrated with a turbine recovery system does not provide a net energy benefit compared to a system with no precompression.