The role of cryogenic carbon capture in future carbon-neutral societies

Abstract

Utilizing CO2 capture technologies is an essential part of achieving a future carbon-neutral Society. So far, amine-based technologies, which are the most mature post-combustion CO2 capture technologies, have been predominantly applied in large-scale CO2 capture applications. However, the cryogenic process has also been proven to be a potential CO2 capture technology suitable for large-scale applications. Cryogenic carbon capture offers two potential advantages over amine-based technology. First, the efficiency is higher and thus the energy penalty is lower. Next, the flexibility of system integration is also higher, and thus the technology carries the potential of better balancing variable renewable electricity productions. By using the software tool EnergyPLAN and dedicated scenarios of achieving a carbon-neutral Denmark, this paper quantitatively estimates these benefits. It is observed that, from a system perspective, utilizing cryogenic technologies to capture 90 % of CO2 emissions in 2045 can reduce the demand for wind power by approximately 47 %, leading to a decrease in annual system costs by nearly 45 %.