Development of a new CO2 capture process with vacuum-assisted calcination for the direct production of pure CO2

The urgent need to achieve net-zero CO<inf>2</inf> emissions by mid-century has intensified research into cost-effective and scalable carbon capture technologies. Calcium Looping is a promising high-temperature process for CO<inf>2</inf> separation, although its widespread de...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fernández García, José Ramón, Barragán, Arturo, Díaz Gutiérrez, Miriam, Pericet-Cámara, Ramón, Abanades García, Juan Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::adb5189fa7ea951df9834ce0e48faa34
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/430721
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/105036433090
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Vacuum calcination
Calcium looping
Chemical looping
CO2 capture
Pure CO2
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Descripción
Sumario:The urgent need to achieve net-zero CO<inf>2</inf> emissions by mid-century has intensified research into cost-effective and scalable carbon capture technologies. Calcium Looping is a promising high-temperature process for CO<inf>2</inf> separation, although its widespread deployment is hindered by the high energy demand of CaCO<inf>3</inf> calcination and the complexity of heat management in packed-bed systems. This work presents the first experimental demonstration of a novel Calcium Looping process that integrates vacuum-assisted calcination to enable autothermal operation and the direct production of ultra-pure CO<inf>2</inf> without downstream purification. When pressure during calcination is reduced to below 0.1 bar, the thermal energy stored in solids during the preceding carbonation step drives CaCO<inf>3</inf> decomposition at significantly lower temperatures. As a result, a CO<inf>2</inf> stream of near 100% purity is obtained. Laboratory-scale tests in packed-bed reactors at TRL3-4 confirm that the process achieves capture efficiencies above 95% for gas streams containing 15–50 vol% CO<inf>2</inf>. Peak temperatures exceeding 800 °C are reached during carbonation, followed by effective regeneration under vacuum. Additional experiments demonstrate the benefits of moderate pressurization (up to 4 bar) during the CO<inf>2</inf> capture stage. The integration of chemical looping combustion (CLC) stages using CuO-based oxygen carriers provides in situ heat, enabling cyclic operation and overcoming thermodynamic limitations for low-CO<inf>2</inf> feeds.