Carbon capture and storage technologies: present scenario and drivers of innovation

- Reduction of carbon emissions demand carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.
- CCS from exhaust gases uses predominantly post-combustion technologies (PostC).
- Natural gas processing (NGP) has the largest installed carbon capture capacity.
- NGP and PostC largely employ chemical and physical absorption technologies.
- Membrane technology associated to enhanced oil recovery dominates offshore NGP.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are being developed to comply with the intensification of environmental laws and policies. Techniques for carbon capture from exhaust gases include post-combustion, pre-combustion and oxy-combustion. CO2 separation in gas processing is also a relevant application, employing alternatives commonly used in post-combustion, sharing developments and pulling innovations (additional to innovations pushed by knowledge from basic and applied research). The high volume of exhaust gases and expanding reserves of natural gas defy the state-of-the art in chemical and physical absorption (the most mature technology). The review identifies technological gaps and drivers of innovation in the CCS chain. In the context of offshore natural gas processing, this work reports a recent and massive technological niche for commercial use of membrane based processes.

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