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Innovations for Existing Plants
Post-Combustion CO₂ Control

Post-combustion CO₂ control systems separate CO₂ from the flue gas produced by conventional coal combustion in air. In this case, CO₂ is exhausted in the flue gas at atmospheric pressure and a concentration of 10-15 volume percent. This is a challenging application for CO₂ capture because: (1) the low pressure and dilute concentration dictate a high actual volume of gas to be treated; (2) trace impurities in the flue gas tend to reduce the effectiveness of the CO₂ separation processes; and (3) compressing captured CO₂ from atmospheric pressure to pipeline pressure (1,200 - 2,200 pounds per square inch) represents a large parasitic energy load.

DOE/NETL’s post-combustion CO₂ control technology R&D includes projects directed at the use of solvents, solid sorbents, and membranes. Amine-based solvent systems are in commercial use for scrubbing CO₂ from industrial flue gases and process gases. However, solvents have not been applied to removing large volumes of CO₂ as would be encountered in a PC-fired utility boiler flue gas. Solid sorbents can be used to capture CO₂ from flue gas through chemical adsorption, physical adsorption, or a combination of the two effects. Possible configurations for contacting the flue gas with solid sorbents include fixed, moving, and fluidized beds. Membrane-based capture uses permeable or semi-permeable materials that allow for the selective transport/separation of CO₂ from flue gas.

DOE/NETL is currently funding multiple post-combustion CO₂ emission control projects within each of these approaches. As shown in the tables below, these R&D efforts are being performed both externally by research organizations and academic institutions and internally through NETL’s Office of Research and Development (ORD), specifically the Separations and Fuels Processing Division and the Office of Computational Dynamics.

Click on a project title in the tables below to get more information.

Post-Combustion External Researchers
Project Number	Performing Organization	Project Title	Performance Period	Research Pathway	Scale
DE-NT0005498	Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (ISGS)	Development and Evaluation of a Novel Integrated Vacuum Carbonate Absorption Process	10/1/08 -9/30/11	Chemical Solvent	Laboratory
DE-NT0005310	GE Global Research	Novel High Capacity Oligomers for Low Cost CO₂ Capture	10/01/08 - 9/30/10	Chemical Solvent	Laboratory
FG02-06ER84592	AIL Systems, Inc.	A Low Energy, Low Cost Process for Stripping Carbon Dioxide from Absorbents	6/28/06 -3/27/07 Complete	Chemical Solvent	Laboratory
FG02-06ER84625	Trimeric Corporation	Advanced Amine Solvent Formulation and Process Integration for Near-Term CO₂ Capture Success	6/28/06 -3/27/07 Complete	Chemical Solvent	Laboratory
DE-NT0005497	TDA Research, Inc.	Low Cost Sorbent for Capturing CO₂ Emissions Generated by Existing Coal-Fired Power Plants	11/1/08 -10/31/11	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
DE-NT0005578	SRI International	Development of Novel Carbon Sorbents for CO₂ Capture	10/1/08 -9/30/11	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
DE-NT0005649	ADA-ES, Inc.	Evaluation of Solid Sorbents as a Retrofit Technology for CO₂ Capture from Coal-Fired Power Plants	9/30/08 -12/31/10	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
FC26-07NT43089	RTI International	Development of a Dry Sorbent-Based Post Combustion CO₂ Capture Technology for Retrofit in Existing Power Plants	3/7/07 -3/6/10	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
FC26-07NT43086	University of Akron	Metal Monolithic Amine-Grafted Zeolites for CO₂ Capture	2/1/07 -1/31/10	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
FG02-04ER83885	Advanced Fuel Research, Inc.	CO₂ Recovery from Flue Gas using Carbon-Supported Amine Sorbents	7/13/04 -4/12/05 Complete	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
FC26-02NT41440	University of Texas at Austin	Carbon Dioxide Capture by Absorption With Potassium Carbonate	7/9/02 -8/31/07 Complete	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
FC26-00NT40923	RTI International	Carbon Dioxide Capture From Flue Gas Using Dry Regenerable Sorbents	8/31/00 - 6/30/07 Complete	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
FC26-07NT43092	UOP LLC	CO₂ Removal from Flue Gas Using Microporous Metal Organic Frameworks	4/1/07 -3/31/10	Chemical & Physical Sorbent	Laboratory
FG26-04NT42121	UOP LLC	Carbon Dioxide Separation with Novel Microporous Metal Organic Frameworks	8/5/04 - 2/4/08 Complete	Chemical & Physical Sorbent	Laboratory
DE-NT0005313	RTI International	CO₂ Capture Membrane Process for Power Plant Flue Gas	10/1/08 -9/30/10	Membrane	Laboratory
DE-NT0005312	Membrane Technology & Research, Inc.	Membrane Process to Capture CO₂ from Power Plant Flue Gas	10/1/08 -9/30/10	Membrane	Laboratory
FG26-04NT42120	University of New Mexico	Novel Dual Functional Membrane for Controlling Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Fossil Fueled Power Plants	4/30/08 -4/30/09	Membrane	Laboratory
FC26-07NT43085	Membrane Technology & Research, Inc.	Membrane Process to Sequester CO₂ from Power Plant Flue Gas	4/1/07 -3/31/09	Membrane	Laboratory
FC26-07NT43084	Carbozyme, Inc	Development of Biomimetric Membrane for Near Zero PC Power Plant Emissions	3/28/07 -3/27/10	Membrane	Laboratory
FG26-06NT42824	Carbozyme, Inc	Biomimetric Membrane for CO₂ Capture from Flue Gas	5/10/06 - 5/31/07 Complete	Membrane	Laboratory
FG02-04ER83925	Compact Membrane Systems, Inc.	Carbon Dioxide Capture from Large Point Sources	7/13/04 - 7/10/05 Complete	Membrane	Laboratory
FC26-04NT42206	FuelCell Energy, Inc.	Combined Power Generation and Carbon Sequestration Using Direct FuelCell Technology	9/30/04 -12/31/05 Complete	Other	Laboratory
DE-NT0005287	Georgia Tech Research Corporation	Reversible Ionic Liquids as Double-Action Solvents for Efficient CO₂ Capture	11/1/08 -10/31/11	Physical Solvent	Laboratory
FG26-05NT42488	Hampton University	CO₂ Capture from Flue Gas by Phase Transitional Absorption	6/30/08 -6/30/09	Physical Solvent	Laboratory
FC26-07NT43091	University of Notre Dame	Ionic Liquids: Breakthrough Absorption Technology for Post-Combustion CO₂ Capture	3/1/07 - 6/30/10	Physical Solvent	Laboratory
FG26-04NT42122	University of Notre Dame	Design and Evaluation of Ionic Liquids as Novel Absorbents	7/16/04 - 7/15/07 Complete	Physical Solvent	Laboratory

Post-Combustion Internal Research
Project Number	Performing Organization	Project Title	Performance Period	Research Pathway	Scale
ORD-08-220671 (Task 6)	NETL/ORD	CO₂ Capture Sorbent-based Device Simulation	10/1/07 - 9/30/08	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
ORD-07-220614 (Subtask 2.3)	NETL/ORD	Reactor Design for CO₂ Capture using Sorbents	10/1/06 - 9/30/08	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
ORD-07-220614 (Subtask 2.1)	NETL/ORD	Sorbent Development for CO₂ Removal for Flue Gas Applications	10/1/06 - 9/30/08	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
ORD-07-220614 (Subtask 2.2)	NETL/ORD	Surface Immobilization Nanotechnology for CO₂ Capture Sorbents	10/1/06 - 9/30/08	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
OST-03-04 (Task 1)	NETL/ORD	Molecular Design and Evaluation of CO₂ Adsorbents (Novel Amine Sorbents)	10/1/05 - 9/30/06 Complete	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
OST-14-06	NETL/ORD	Novel CO₂ Capture Concept (carbonic anhydrase & amine-enriched solid sorbents)	10/1/05 - 9/30/06 Complete	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
04-N062	NETL/ORD (CRADA w/ Powerspan)	Ammonia-based Process for Multicomponent Removal from Flue Gas	6/8/04 -9/30/07 Complete	Chemical Solvent	Pilot
OST-07-04	NETL/ORD	Low Temperature Sorbent Development of CO₂ Separation from Post-Combustion Gas Streams	10/1/03 - 9/30/06 Complete	Chemical Sorbent	Laboratory
ORD-07-220662	NETL/ORD	Materials and Catalyst Research (MOF CO₂ Membranes)	10/1/06 - 9/30/08	Membrane	Laboratory
06-N076	NETL/ORD (CRADA w/ RITE, Inc.)	CO₂ Capture from Flue Gas with a Membrane Module	12/20/05 - 12/20/06 Complete	Membrane	Laboratory
ORD-07-220614	NETL/ORD	Carbon Dioxide Capture & Separation	10/1/06 - 9/30/08	Misc.	Laboratory
ORD-07-220614 (Task 5)	NETL/ORD	Electrochemical Beneficiation of Flue Gas	10/1/06 - 9/30/08	Other	Laboratory

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