THE PROBLEM, THE NEED AND THE OPPORTUNITY

Global warming resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases has received widespread attention with international action from governments and industries, and very recently the International Climate Change hold 2015 in Paris1. Key European Commission roadmaps towards 2030 and 2050 have identified Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as a central low-carbon technology to achieve the EU's 2050 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction objectives, although there still remains a great deal to be done in terms of embedding CCS in future policy frameworks.

Among the greenhouse gases, CO2 contributes more than 60% to global warming because of its high emission levels from diverse sources. In complement to the continuous search for non CO2 emitting sources of energy, like wind, solar or hydro and geothermal, CCS is a key strategy since it offers the opportunity to meet increasing demands for fossil fuel energy in the short- to medium-term, whilst reducing the associated greenhouse gas emissions. The CCS technologies could enable large (90-95%) reductions of CO2 emissions in power generation as well as in both fossil fuels transformation and energy-intensive industrial processes, e.g. cement, iron and steel production. Hence, the selective capture and storage of CO2 at low cost in an energy-efficient manner (target of the European SET plan- 90% of CO2 recovery, cost less than 25€/MWh) is a world-wide challenge.

CO2 capture process represents typically about 70% of the total cost of the CCS chain, and therefore, novel adsorption technologies that can offer various advantages over conventional adsorption, such as high operating flexibility and low maintenance costs, are gaining support nowadays. One of the most promising technologies for CO2 capture is based on the adsorption process using solid sorbents, with the most important advantage being the energy penalty reduction during capture and regeneration of the material compared to liquid absorption.a Nevertheless, the challenge in GRAMOFON project remains the same, namely to intensify the production of a CO2 stream in terms of adsorption/desorption rates and energy use while preserving the textural characteristics of the sorbents.