Enhancement of CO₂ Absorption in Water through pH Control and Carbonic Anhydrase–A Technical Assessment

This paper provides an industrial-scale technical assessment of absorption of CO 2 in water to react into bicarbonate (HCO 3 – ), with the goal of storing HCO 3 – in the oceans as a carbon sequestration technology. A potential advantage of the process is that it will not require a CO 2 transport and storage infrastructure that will be expensive for small-scale and remote emission sources. Process simulations are utilized to estimate absorber column length and for mass flow estimations of water and base required for a target capture rate of 90%. The results indicate that the process is technically feasible under specific conditions, with pH regulation being highly important, although the demand for base represents a limiting factor. Yet, a potential niche for the process is CO 2 capture at smaller plants emitting small amounts of CO 2 .