Axial compression for direct capture of carbon dioxide (CO₂)

One prospective method to retard the speed of climate change is Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). It is known that reducing emissions through CCS on point sources can only slowdown the rate of increase of atmospheric CO₂ concentration and not able to mitigate the CO₂ that are already in the atmosphere by previous emissions. Hence, a complimentary method would be to extract CO₂ directly from air - Direct Air Capture (DAC). This paper addresses a novel concept of DAC whereby an additional phase of axial compression is introduced to adapt atmospheric air to a level suitable for capture. An axial compression model was developed so that fluid simulation studies can be performed. These information are then utilized in a feasibility study to address several key issues: the additional energy penalty when applying axial compression and whether or not, increasing the capture input by compression would displace the elevated energy consumption.