Carbon dioxide sequestration in petrochemical industries with the aim of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

The mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions to acceptable levels is arguably the greatest environmental challenge these days. Vast utilization of fossil fuels and forest destruction are main causes of CO₂ increase in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide sequestration that consists of separation, transportation and utilization or storage of CO₂, is one way for reduction of its emission, in which the most costly section is separation. Different methods can be used for carbon dioxide separation such as absorption, membrane separation, adsorption and cryogenic distillation. Economic, technical and environmental issues should be considered in selection of the technology for particular application. Carbon dioxide concentration, temperature, pressure and flow rate are influential operating parameters in the selection of the appropriate separation method. Nowadays, absorption is the worldwide industrial separation method. New researches are focused on developing new stable solvents and efficient column configuration with suitable internals to minimize pressure drop. Membrane separation and adsorption (PSA type) are other long-term alternatives that can increase separation efficiency and decrease separation cost. The level of energy consumption in various separation methods are in the order: chemical absorption>physical absorption>membrane separation. Because of high investment costs, current separation technologies are suitable for large concentrated sources. In the present paper, different processes for carbon dioxide separation are investigated and compared. Available technologies and commercial plants for CO₂ sequestration are provided.