Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.58, No.31, 14275-14283, 2019
Enhancement of CO2 Absorption in Water through pH Control and Carbonic Anhydrase A Technical Assessment
This paper provides an industrial-scale technical assessment of absorption of CO2 in water to react into bicarbonate (HCO3-), with the goal of storing HCO3- in the oceans as a carbon sequestration technology. A potential advantage of the process is that it will not require a CO2 transport and storage infrastructure that will be expensive for small-scale and remote emission sources. Process simulations are utilized to estimate absorber column length and for mass flow estimations of water and base required for a target capture rate of 90%. The results indicate that the process is technically feasible under specific conditions, with pH regulation being highly important, although the demand for base represents a limiting factor. Yet, a potential niche for the process is CO2 capture at smaller plants emitting small amounts of CO2.