Techno-economic screening of CO2 capture solvents

Despite the vast effort at developing new materials for CO2 capture there is a conspicuous lack of success at translating this research from the material synthesis and discovery scale to the lab- or pilot-scale evaluation of the performance of these materials in a process performance context. Research continues to develop new materials on an ad hoc basis with the a posteriori rationalisation of the impact of solvent properties and molecular structure on overall process performance and cost. It has therefore been difficult to establish appropriate screening and performance criteria as well as a screening methodology to permit evaluation of existing or new materials.
The objective of this work is to develop an input/output mathematical tool to allow the simultaneous evaluation of both the process design and molecular structure of solvent systems of relevance from a CO2 emissions and capital and operating cost basis. The tool will allow for a rigorous, systems-based approach to unambiguously establish a performance baseline and help bridge the gap between molecular structure and process design and associated cost implications.
The outcome of this work will allow to establish a common, quantified baseline for the performance of current liquid CO2 solvents facilitate the quantitative and rapid evaluation of new materials and provide guidance to material and process developers on relevant performance targets.