Comparative Economic Analysis of Physical, Chemical, and Hybrid Absorption Processes for Carbon Capture

Due to the variability of CO2 emission sources, proper selection of viable and cost-effective technology for carbon capture is highly critical. In this work, a comparative economic analysis of physical, chemical, and hybrid physical–chemical absorption processes is performed to guide the selection of appropriate carbon capture technologies for different types of CO2 sources. First, three different absorption processes are designed and simulated for treating various industrial CO2-containing gases with distinct pressures and CO2 concentrations. Then, the total annualized costs of the processes are calculated and compared. It is found that for carbon capture at atmospheric pressure, chemical absorption exhibits the highest performance for low CO2 concentrations (<30.4%), hybrid absorption is most economical for medium CO2 composition (30.4–59.3%), and physical absorption is most cost-effective for high CO2 content (>59.3%). For treating high-pressure CO2-containing gases (e.g., precombustion carbon capture), the hybrid physical–chemical absorption process is economically preferred.