Carbon Dioxide Capture & Sequestration: An Integrated Overview of Available Technologies

CO2 capture from gaseous effluents is one of the great challenges faced by chemical and environmental engineering, as the increase of CO2 levels in the Earth’s atmosphere is endangering the support of living species on this planet and might also be responsible for dramatic climate changes. Several capture technologies actually exist although the only proven and mature technology is, currently, chemical absorption using aqueous amine solutions, which still poses several technological and operational problems. Other concurrent technologies, such as adsorption and membrane, are in a less developed stage and require considerable research efforts to be viable industrial processes. Nevertheless, several alternatives exist for CO2 reutilisation as this is an abundant carbon source that could be easily used as a raw material for other carbon based raw materials, fuels and polymers. This book explores the problem of CO2 emissions and sequestration technologies, with a focus on recent scientific developments.