Case Study

Industrial Decarbonization Technologies

Carbon Capture Circular Economy Fuels and Chemicals

Challenge

Most CO₂ capture technologies are unaffordable. They rely on water-based (aqueous) solvents, which require a large amount of energy to absorb the CO₂ from the exhaust gas and regenerate it for use in subsequent cycles. As a result, fossil fuel-dependent industries have been unable to put decarbonization technologies into practice. 

Objective

With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, RTI created a non-aqueous solvent (NAS) that captures 99% of CO₂ from point source emissions originating from natural gas or coal combustion or from cement kiln operation. Once captured, CO₂ can be permanently stored deep underground or recycled into commercial goods.  

How RTI’s Technology Performs

RTI’s NAS technology works by capturing CO₂ from point sources of emissions before it enters the Earth’s atmosphere. The system can be used at any facility where fossil fuels are combusted to generate heat or steam needed in a process. The solvent flows down absorber columns and bonds to CO₂, leaving behind oxygen, nitrogen, and water, which are all benign components in the atmosphere.

Process

Our NAS technology began in the lab with our team of engineers testing hundreds of solvents to see which would dissolve CO₂ without forming a solid component while still showing a high CO₂ absorption capacity. Once solvents were saturated in test tubes, we weighed each test tube to determine its gravimetric loading and observed its viscosity and state of solubility. If promising, we conducted further viscosity testing, with a lower viscosity rate being more desirable because it allows easy solvent flow through an absorption system.  

Most state-of-the-art approaches use water for carbon capture technologies, but it requires a high amount of energy during regeneration. We focused heavily on eliminating water from the solvent’s formula. Without water, the solvent is also less corrosive, allowing use of the technology with cheaper construction materials instead of expensive high-grade corrosion-resistant alloys.  

Our most recent technoeconomic analyses following rigorous U.S. Department of Energy guidelines indicate that NAS technology costs approximately $47 per ton to capture CO₂ compared to the baseline price of $56 per ton.   

Collaboration

After developing and evaluating the NAS technology at the RTI Pilot Xcelerator, we conducted larger-scale tests in Trondheim, Norway, at SINTEF’s CO₂ Lab; Wilsonville, Alabama, at the National Carbon Capture Center; and in Mongstad, Norway, at Technology Centre Mongstad – the world’s largest CO₂ capture testing facility. These opportunities attracted industry leaders to consider our NAS technology.  

We partnered with SLB (formerly Schlumberger Limited), a global leader in energy technology, to design CO₂ capture plants that will be installed and operated by SLB and use RTI’s NAS technology. Our ongoing collaboration with SLB has led to further projects and partnerships. 

Industries adapting RTI’s NAS technology:  

• Cement – collaboration with CEMEX to reduce cement manufacturing industrial CO₂ emissions. 
  • Evaluate CO₂ capture of cement flue gas.  
  • Assess and determine the cost of ~1.5 million tonnes- CO₂ per year for commercial-scale carbon capture system integration. 

Our Experts

Marty Lail

Senior Director, Center for Energy Systems

Marty Lail leads energy systems and carbon management research, helping develop and scale carbon capture and conversion technologies at the RTI Pilot Xcelerator.

Read more on rti.org