Progress and prospects of amine-based chemical absorption for post-combustion CO2 capture in thermal power plants

To meet the greenhouse-gas (GHG) mitigation targets pledged under the Paris Agreement, signatory countries are accelerating the deployment of commercial carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects. The power sector is responsible for more than 36% of global carbon emissions, and amine-based chemical absorption is widely regarded as the leading option for post-combustion CO 2 capture in thermal power plants. However, commercial CCUS operating experience has exposed persistent economic and environmental challenges. These issues continue to hinder wider implementation of CCUS in the power sector. This review systematically summarizes advances in chemical absorption technologies tailored for thermal power plants, emphasizing cost-reduction energy-saving strategies across solvent development, capture process configurations, high-efficiency equipment integration, and advanced operational control. The evolution of absorbents is first traced, and current strategies to reduce regeneration energy while improving key performance attributes are summarized, including corrosion resistance, amine-emission mitigation, and resistance to amine degradation. Energy-saving process technologies are presented as complementary levers for reducing regeneration energy. Representative energy-saving configurations and intensified equipment are classified, and their applicable scenarios and remaining limitations are analyzed. In addition, the contribution of intelligent methods to accelerating the discovery of energy-efficient solvents and the development of energy-saving technologies is highlighted, together with the potential of intelligent control for automated and economically optimized operation. Finally, future challenges and research directions for flue-gas CO 2 capture in power plants are outlined to support practical CCUS deployment in the electricity sector.