Screening Life Cycle Analysis of Post Combustion CO2-Capture Technologies - A Comparison of Construction Phase Results

In a comparative approach, a life cycle assessment for the production phases of two different CO2-capture facilities was made. Amine wash facilities are currently the most discussed way to capture CO2 in the post-combustion technology route. An equally promising competing technology uses polymeric membranes to extract CO2 from the flue gas. Additionally to the examination of the different production processes, the results were comparatively placed into an approximate life cycle analysis. The results for the membrane facility scenarios vary broadly. All of the investigated factors (e.g. laboratory/large scale membrane production; steel usage and membrane area demand) have a significant effect on the emissions. The best case scenario with low membrane area and steel demand presents a competitive capacity to the reference amine wash case. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.