Carbon Capture Materials in Post-Combustion: Adsorption and Absorption-Based Processes

Global warming and climate changes are among the biggest modern-day environmental problems, the main factor causing these problems is the greenhouse gas effect. The increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere resulted in capturing increased amounts of reflected sunlight, causing serious acute and chronic environmental problems. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 421 ppm in 2022 as compared to 280 in the 1800s, this increase is attributed to the increased carbon dioxide emissions from the industrial revolution. The release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere can be minimized by practicing carbon capture utilization and storage methods. Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) has four major methods, namely, pre-combustion, post-combustion, oxyfuel combustion, and direct air capture. It has been reported that applying CCUS can capture up to 95% of the produced carbon dioxide in running power plants. However, a reported cost penalty and efficiency decrease hinder the wide applicability of CCUS. Advancements in the CCSU were made in increasing the efficiency and decreasing the cost of the sorbents. In this review, we highlight the recent developments in utilizing both physical and chemical sorbents to capture carbon. This includes amine-based sorbents, blended absorbents, ionic liquids, metal-organic framework (MOF) adsorbents, zeolites, mesoporous silica materials, alkali-metal adsorbents, carbonaceous materials, and metal oxide/metal oxide-based materials. In addition, a comparison between recently proposed kinetic and thermodynamic models was also introduced. It was concluded from the published studies that amine-based sorbents are considered assuperior carbon-capturing materials, which is attributed to their high stability, multifunctionality, rapid capture, and ability to achieve large sorption capacities. However, more work must be done to reduce their cost as it can be regarded as their main drawback.