Technical analysis of CO2 capture pathways and technologies

The reduction of CO2 emissions to minimize the impact of the climate change has become a global priority. The continuous implementation of renewable energy sources increases energy efficiency, while the reduction of CO2 emissions opens new options for carbon capture technologies to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. The combination of carbon capture with renewable energy balancing production offers excellent potential for fuels and chemical products and can play an essential role in the future energy system. This paper includes a critical review of the state of the art of different CO2 capture engineering pathways and technologies including a techno-economics analysis and focusing on comparing these technologies depending on the final CO2 application. The current cost for CO2 capture is in the range of 60–110 USD/t, likely to halve by 2030. This review offers technical information to select the most appropriate technology to be used in specific processes and for the different carbon capture pathways, i.e., Pre-combustion, Post-Combustion and Direct Air Capture. This comparison includes the CO2 capture approach for biomethane production by biogas upgrading to substitute fossil natural gas and other alternatives fuels production routes which will be introduces in future works performed by this review authors.