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Today's Topics:
1. "New low-cost carbon capture method" Texas A&M University
(Stephen Loosley)
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2025 22:32:29 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] "New low-cost carbon capture method" Texas A&M
University
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Popping the cork on new low-cost carbon capture method
The process uses water and pressure to remove carbon dioxide from emissions at
half the cost of current methods.
Nov 13, 2025 By Caitlin Clark, Texas A&M University
https://stories.tamu.edu/news/2025/11/13/popping-the-cork-on-new-low-cost-carbon-capture-method/
4 min. read
A new, low-cost method for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants
and industrial facilities relies on a simple physical phenomenon ? the same one
that causes bubbles to fizz when popping a bottle of Champagne or cracking open
a bottle of seltzer.
The process, called Pressure Induced Carbon Capture (PICC), uses water and
pressure to pull carbon dioxide out of exhaust gases before it reaches the
atmosphere, offering a cleaner and far less expensive alternative to
traditional chemical methods.
Co-inventors Dr. Mark Holtzapple, professor of chemical engineering at Texas
A&M University, and Jonathan Feinstein of ExcelThermic Enterprises have filed
patents for licensing the technology to power plants, hydrogen facilities,
cement kilns, steel blast furnaces and other industrial emitters worldwide.
Holtzapple said PICC is a practical solution to an urgent problem because
fossil fuel combustion ? which releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere ?
remains an important component of the global energy mix.
?Our invention is a cost-effective way to address one of the greatest
challenges facing humanity,? Holtzapple said.
?We can capture carbon dioxide from flue gas using only water and pressure,
which makes the process simple, clean and less expensive than competing
technologies.?
Traditional carbon capture systems rely on strong chemicals called amines that
bind with carbon dioxide to remove it from exhaust gases. Amines struggle to
pull more than 90% of the carbon dioxide out of the flue gas, Holtzapple said.
Also, the amines are expensive and degrade when exposed to flue gases.
Furthermore, permitting 10% of the carbon dioxide to escape into the
environment is no longer tenable, he said.
In contrast, PICC uses physical absorption. Because PICC uses no chemical
bonds, carbon dioxide pops back out of the water at reduced pressures just as
easily as it dissolves in water at high pressure.
?Everybody knows that high-pressure carbon dioxide dissolves in water, and that
when you open a bottle of Coca-Cola or beer you see that carbon dioxide bubble
back out,? Holtzapple said. Once released, the carbon dioxide can be safely
stored or utilized.
How the system works
In operation, flue gas from combusting coal, natural gas or biomass ? like
forest waste, crop residues or municipal solid waste ? is first cooled and
compressed. The high-pressure gas is then piped into an absorption column,
where cold water flows downward while the gas moves upward through a structured
packing that maximizes contact between the two streams. As the nearly clean gas
reaches the top of the column, it contacts fresh water entering at the top.
There, the last traces of carbon dioxide dissolve into the water, with clean
gas releasing into the environment.
The water exiting the bottom of the column contains dissolved carbon dioxide
and is transferred to a series of vessels, each operating at lower and lower
pressures, where the carbon dioxide progressively bubbles out. Holtzapple said
the released carbon dioxide is then ready for compression and injection into
underground geological formations, such as saline aquifers, where it is
permanently stored.
A lower cost path to near-total capture
Economic analyses show that PICC can capture and compress 99% of carbon dioxide
emissions for $26 per metric ton. Other current technologies capture about 90%
and cost $50 to $100 per metric ton, Holtzapple said.
Additionally, by adding a small amount of lime ? an alkali ? to the water, PICC
captures 100% of carbon dioxide for an average cost less than $28 per metric
ton. At that level of capture, even the carbon dioxide from the combustion air
is removed, Holtzapple said.
?Without adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, PICC allows us to use
abundant fossil fuels on which our civilization is built."
"Furthermore, by coupling PICC to biomass combustion, we can remove carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere cost effectively,? he said.
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