ACCA: Atmospheric Carbon Capture

Carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion and change in land use are forcing a rapid increase in atmospheric CO2 levels leading to climate change. The initial implementation of plans to reduce the levels of CO2 is based on a combination of increased use of renewable energy and the implementation of carbon capture and storage from industrial sources and power plants on a wide scale.

Such actions are not sufficient for preventing the cross with the maximum limit CO2 concentration in atmosphere (550ppm), which is foreseen for 2060.

CO2 capture directly from the atmosphere (air capture) would provide an option to accelerate the correction and possibly reverse the trend in atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

Air capture may be a very affordable solution for mitigating climate change, solving the problem with distributed emissions and giving the possibility of locating the air capture unit close to geological storage facilities.

Due to the recent high level of CO2 concentration in atmosphere, CO2 capture from the atmosphere represents the most recent strategy among the solutions for capturing carbon and for this reason the feasibility of air capture is still to be demonstrated.

Using adsorbent materials can be considered as the most convenient way in terms of costs and energy consumption to develop a prototype of air capture system.

Therefore the present project proposes an investigation oriented to develop a prototype for air capture adopting adsorbent materials and integrated with renewable energy sources to reduce energy consumption.

The aim of the project is to demonstrate the ability of the novel adsorption device to capture CO2 from air at 400ppm (present atmospheric concentration), concentrate it and pressurise it with low temperature thermal energy.

Project Website: 

Principal Investigator: 

Research Institutes: 

  • Multiscale Thermofluids

Research Themes: 

  • Carbon Capture and Separation Processes

Last modified: 

Friday, March 4, 2022 - 11:29