In recent years, Carbon Capture and Storage (Sequestration) (CCS) has been proposed as a potential method to allow the continued use of fossil-fuelled power stations whilst preventing emissions of CO 2 from reaching the atmosphere. Gas, coal (and biomass)-fired power stations can respond to changes in demand more readily than many other sources of electricity production, hence the importance of retaining them as an option in the energy mix. Here, we review the leading CO 2 capture technologies, available in the short and long term, and their technological maturity, before discussing CO 2 transport and storage. Current pilot plants and demonstrations are highlighted, as is the importance of optimising the CCS system as a whole. Other topics briefly discussed include the viability of both the capture of CO 2 from the air and CO 2 reutilisation as climate change mitigation strategies. Finally, we discuss the economic and legal aspects of CCS.

Calcium oxide can be an effective sorbent to separate CO 2 at high temperatures. When coupled with a calcination step to produce pure CO 2 , the carbonation reaction is the basis for several high-temperature CO 2 capture systems. The evolution with cycling of the capture capacity of CaO derived from natural limestones is experimentally investigated in this work. Long series of carbonation/calcination cycles (up to 500) varying different variables affecting sorbent capacity have been tested in a thermogravimetric apparatus. Calcination temperatures above T > 950 °C and very long calcination times accelerate the decay in sorption capacity, while other variables have a comparatively modest effect on the overall sorbent performance. A residual conversion of about 7-8% that remains constant after many hundreds of cycles and that seems insensitive to process conditions has been found. This residual conversion makes very attractive the carbonation/calcination cycle, by reducing (or even eliminating) sorbent purge rates in the system. A semiempirical equation has been proposed to describe sorbent conversion with the number of cycles based on these new long data series.

The use of calcines of natural limestones as CO 2 regenerable sorbents is investigated in this work by studying the decay of the maximum carbonation conversion during many carbonation/ calcination cycles. New experimental information is complemented with a compilation of previously published data on this subject. The observed conversion limits in the reaction of CO 2 with lime are interpreted in terms of a certain loss in the porosity associated with small pores and a certain increase in the porosity associated with large pores. In the carbonation part of every cycle, the CaCO 3 fills up all the available porosity made up of small pores plus a small fraction of the large voids, limited by the thickness of the product layer that marks the onset of the slow carbonation rate. A simple model based on textural changes, observed by scanning electron microscopy, fits equally well all the data from this work and from other authors. The two model parameters are consistent with known mechanism occurring during calcination and carbonation.