Review of fundamental properties of CO2 hydrates and CO2 capture and separation using hydration method

Hydration is an alternative promising method for CO2 capture and separation from either post-combustion flue gas or pre-combustion fuel gas. The present paper gathers the researches on CO2 hydrate and the hydrates of gas mixtures of CO2+N2/H2/CH4, including studies of fundamental thermo-physical properties, molecular structures and hydrate formation equilibrium conditions. Some promoters, i.e. quaternary ammonium salt etc. are usually used in CO2 hydration process to reduce the hydrate equilibrium pressure and to enhance the hydrate kinetic and stability, hence their promotion effect on CO2 hydrate and on the hydrates of gas mixture of CO2+N2/H2/CH4 are reviewed. The paper also summarizes the applications of hydrate technology in CO2 capture and separation, and the corresponding performance is summarized and the bottlenecks are discussed. It necessitates more works to promote this technology towards industrial application.