IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v325y2022ics0306261922011588.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of climate on solvent-based direct air capture systems

Author

Listed:
  • An, Keju
  • Farooqui, Azharuddin
  • McCoy, Sean T.

Abstract

Direct air capture (DAC) is increasingly seen as a critical technology to reach mid-century net-zero targets and limit climate change to well below 2 °C. While the commercialization of DAC technologies is being pursued by numerous companies, there remains remarkably little information on their performance under “real-world” conditions. In this paper, for the first time, we investigate the influence of temperature and relative humidity of air on the CO2 capture rate at the air contactor, overall energy requirement, CO2 capture efficiency, and levelized cost of liquid-solvent based DAC systems. We observe that the overall energy demand decreases from 11.1 to 8.3 GJ/tCO2 as the CO2 capture rate increases from 40 to 85 % and that high capture rates can only be achieved in hot and humid climate conditions. We observe that a CO2 capture rate of 75 % is only possible above 17 °C and 90 % relative humidity, and this drops dramatically at lower temperatures. It is also observed that water evaporation in the air contactor is highest at dry and low relative humidity, as expected. The sensitivity analysis showed that CO2 capture efficiency is relatively insensitive to climate conditions for the liquid-solvent based DAC plant. Lastly, the levelized cost of natural gas standalone scenario varies from $240/tCO2 to $409/tCO2, and this is more sensitive to temperature than relative humidity. The levelized cost of the natural gas stand-alone case is between 7 % and 10 % lower than that of an electric grid-connected case across all climate conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • An, Keju & Farooqui, Azharuddin & McCoy, Sean T., 2022. "The impact of climate on solvent-based direct air capture systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:325:y:2022:i:c:s0306261922011588
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119895
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261922011588
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119895?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kim, Jeongnam & Na, Jonggeol & Kim, Kyeongsu & Bak, Ji Hyun & Lee, Hyunjoo & Lee, Ung, 2021. "Learning the properties of a water-lean amine solvent from carbon capture pilot experiments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    2. Rosa, Lorenzo & Sanchez, Daniel L. & Realmonte, Giulia & Baldocchi, Dennis & D'Odorico, Paolo, 2021. "The water footprint of carbon capture and storage technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. David Keith & Minh Ha-Duong & Joshua K. Stolaroff, 2006. "Climate strategy with CO2 capture from the air," Post-Print halshs-00003926, HAL.
    4. Christian Breyer & Mahdi Fasihi & Arman Aghahosseini, 2020. "Carbon dioxide direct air capture for effective climate change mitigation based on renewable electricity: a new type of energy system sector coupling," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 43-65, January.
    5. Jonas Meckling & Eric Biber, 2021. "A policy roadmap for negative emissions using direct air capture," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-6, December.
    6. Pete Smith & Steven J. Davis & Felix Creutzig & Sabine Fuss & Jan Minx & Benoit Gabrielle & Etsushi Kato & Robert B. Jackson & Annette Cowie & Elmar Kriegler & Detlef P. van Vuuren & Joeri Rogelj & Ph, 2016. "Biophysical and economic limits to negative CO2 emissions," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 42-50, January.
    7. Peter Viebahn & Alexander Scholz & Ole Zelt, 2019. "The Potential Role of Direct Air Capture in the German Energy Research Program—Results of a Multi-Dimensional Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-27, September.
    8. Kavya Madhu & Stefan Pauliuk & Sumukha Dhathri & Felix Creutzig, 2021. "Understanding environmental trade-offs and resource demand of direct air capture technologies through comparative life-cycle assessment," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(11), pages 1035-1044, November.
    9. Ayoub, Ali & Gjorgiev, Blaže & Sansavini, Giovanni, 2018. "Cooling towers performance in a changing climate: Techno-economic modeling and design optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 1133-1143.
    10. Sarah Deutz & André Bardow, 2021. "Life-cycle assessment of an industrial direct air capture process based on temperature–vacuum swing adsorption," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(2), pages 203-213, February.
    11. Giulia Realmonte & Laurent Drouet & Ajay Gambhir & James Glynn & Adam Hawkes & Alexandre C. Köberle & Massimo Tavoni, 2019. "An inter-model assessment of the role of direct air capture in deep mitigation pathways," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Wei & Wang, Ting & Lu, Can, 2023. "Pathways to net-zero emissions from China's transportation industry: Considering alternative fuels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    2. Jason Boerst & Ivonne Pena Cabra & Smriti Sharma & Connie Zaremsky & Arun K. S. Iyengar, 2024. "Strategic Siting of Direct Air Capture Facilities in the United States," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-30, July.
    3. Wang, Qian & Du, Caiyi & Zhang, Xueguang, 2024. "Direct air capture capacity configuration and cost allocation based on sharing mechanism," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 374(C).
    4. Yang, Lihua & Wu, Xiao, 2024. "Net-zero carbon configuration approach for direct air carbon capture based integrated energy system considering dynamic characteristics of CO2 adsorption and desorption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    5. Arwa, Erick O. & Schell, Kristen R., 2024. "Batteries or silos: Optimizing storage capacity in direct air capture plants to maximize renewable energy use," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 355(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Motlaghzadeh, Kasra & Schweizer, Vanessa & Craik, Neil & Moreno-Cruz, Juan, 2023. "Key uncertainties behind global projections of direct air capture deployment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).
    2. Galán-Martín, Ángel & Contreras, María del Mar & Romero, Inmaculada & Ruiz, Encarnación & Bueno-Rodríguez, Salvador & Eliche-Quesada, Dolores & Castro-Galiano, Eulogio, 2022. "The potential role of olive groves to deliver carbon dioxide removal in a carbon-neutral Europe: Opportunities and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    3. Yang Qiu & Patrick Lamers & Vassilis Daioglou & Noah McQueen & Harmen-Sytze Boer & Mathijs Harmsen & Jennifer Wilcox & André Bardow & Sangwon Suh, 2022. "Environmental trade-offs of direct air capture technologies in climate change mitigation toward 2100," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Selene Cobo & Ángel Galán-Martín & Victor Tulus & Mark A. J. Huijbregts & Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez, 2022. "Human and planetary health implications of negative emissions technologies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Balint Simon, 2023. "Material flows and embodied energy of direct air capture: A cradle‐to‐gate inventory of selected technologies," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 646-661, June.
    6. Migo-Sumagang, Maria Victoria & Tan, Raymond R. & Aviso, Kathleen B., 2023. "A multi-period model for optimizing negative emission technology portfolios with economic and carbon value discount rates," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    7. Ayami Hayashi & Fuminori Sano & Takashi Homma & Keigo Akimoto, 2023. "Mitigating trade-offs between global food access and net-zero emissions: the potential contribution of direct air carbon capture and storage," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(5), pages 1-19, May.
    8. Wang, Qian & Du, Caiyi & Zhang, Xueguang, 2024. "Direct air capture capacity configuration and cost allocation based on sharing mechanism," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 374(C).
    9. McLaughlin, Hope & Littlefield, Anna A. & Menefee, Maia & Kinzer, Austin & Hull, Tobias & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Bazilian, Morgan D. & Kim, Jinsoo & Griffiths, Steven, 2023. "Carbon capture utilization and storage in review: Sociotechnical implications for a carbon reliant world," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    10. Ángel Galán-Martín & Daniel Vázquez & Selene Cobo & Niall Dowell & José Antonio Caballero & Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez, 2021. "Delaying carbon dioxide removal in the European Union puts climate targets at risk," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Ünal, Emre & Keeley, Alexander Ryota & Köse, Nezir & Chapman, Andrew & Managi, Shunsuke, 2024. "The nexus between direct air capture technology and CO2 emissions in the transport sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 363(C).
    12. Harrison, Nicholas & Herrera Jiménez, Juan & Krieger Merico, Luiz F. & Lorenzo, Santiago & Rondón Toro, Estefani & Rouse, Paul & Samaniego, Joseluis, 2023. "Nature-based solutions and carbon dioxide removal," Documentos de Proyectos 48691, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    13. Tom Terlouw & Lorenzo Rosa & Christian Bauer & Russell McKenna, 2024. "Future hydrogen economies imply environmental trade-offs and a supply-demand mismatch," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    14. Zhang, Chen & Zhang, Xinqi & Su, Tingyu & Zhang, Yiheng & Wang, Liwei & Zhu, Xuancan, 2023. "Modification schemes of efficient sorbents for trace CO2 capture," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    15. Günther, Philipp & Ekardt, Felix, 2022. "Human Rights and Large-Scale Carbon Dioxide Removal: Potential Limits to BECCS and DACCS Deployment," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11(12), pages 1-29.
    16. Shu, David Yang & Deutz, Sarah & Winter, Benedikt Alexander & Baumgärtner, Nils & Leenders, Ludger & Bardow, André, 2023. "The role of carbon capture and storage to achieve net-zero energy systems: Trade-offs between economics and the environment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    17. Steffen Fahr & Julian Powell & Alice Favero & Anthony J. Giarrusso & Ryan P. Lively & Matthew J. Realff, 2022. "Assessing the physical potential capacity of direct air capture with integrated supply of low‐carbon energy sources," Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 12(1), pages 170-188, February.
    18. ElSayed, Mai & Aghahosseini, Arman & Caldera, Upeksha & Breyer, Christian, 2023. "Analysing the techno-economic impact of e-fuels and e-chemicals production for exports and carbon dioxide removal on the energy system of sunbelt countries – Case of Egypt," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).
    19. Jason Hickel & Stéphane Hallegatte, 2022. "Can we live within environmental limits and still reduce poverty? Degrowth or decoupling?," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(1), January.
    20. Sandra K. S. Boetcher & Matthew J. Traum & Ted Hippel, 2020. "Thermodynamic Model of CO2 Deposition in Cold Climates," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 517-530, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:325:y:2022:i:c:s0306261922011588. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.