Reducing the CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plans by exhaust gas treatment

The emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other pollutants which result from burning fossil fuels has been identified as the major contributor to global warming and climate change. However, for the short term, at least for the next 10-20 years, the world will continue to rely on fossil fuels as the source of primary energy. The challenge for the fossil the fuel industry is to find cost-effective solutions that will reduce the release of CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere. The focus of this paper is on the ability to treat the exhaust gas from fossil fuel power plants in order to capture and store the CO2 and remove the other pollutants such as SOx and NOx which are released into the atmosphere. In summary, capture/separation costs represent the largest financial impediment for this type of plants. Hence, efficient, cost-effective capture/separation technologies need to be developed to allow their large-scale use. (author)