“As part of a marathon research effort to lower the cost of carbon capture, chemists have now demonstrated a method to seize carbon dioxide (CO2) that reduces costs by 19 percent compared to current commercial technology. The new technology requires 17 percent less energy to accomplish the same task as its commercial counterparts, surpassing barriers that have kept other forms of carbon capture from widespread industrial use. And it can be easily applied in existing capture systems.
“At a cost of $400-$500 million per unit, commercial technology can capture carbon at roughly $58.30 per metric ton of CO2, according to a DOE analysis. EEMPA, according to Jiang's study, can absorb CO2 from power plant flue gas and later release it as pure CO2 for as little as $47.10 per metric ton, offering an additional technology option for power plant operators to capture their CO2.”

Interesting side note:

“One of the first known patents for solvent-based carbon capture technology cropped up in 1930, filed by Robert Bottoms.
"I kid you not," said green chemist David Heldebrant, coauthor of the new study. "Ninety-one years ago, Bottoms used almost the same process design and chemistry to address what we now know as a 21st century problem."

So what’s next?

“They will continue testing at increasing scales and further refine the solvent's chemistry, with the aim to reach the U.S. Department of Energy's goal of deploying commercially available technology that can capture CO2 at a cost of $30 per metric ton by 2035.”

The current consensus is that we’re going to have to get Co2 out of the air with carbon capture processes like these.

Small wins like this are still wins.

[Photo: Michael Perkins | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory]