Advances in CO2 capture technology: A patent review

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are believed to be a major contributor to global warming. As a consequence, large anthropogenic CO2 sources worldwide will eventually be required to implement CO2 capture and storage technologies to control CO2 emissions. In order to guide the establishment of policies for CO2 removal, we reviewed the current status of CO2 capture patents and technologies based on the Espacenet patent database and found that more than 1000 patents have been published on sorbent, solvent, and membrane. More than 60% of these patents were published since the year 2000, and a sharp increase in patent numbers was seen in the last several years; ∼25% patents were published in the last 2 years. Substantially more patents on CO2 removal and separation technologies are expected in the coming years. Meanwhile, the top four major types of patents, which consist of more than 2/3 of these patents, were patents granted by Japan (JP), United States (US), World Intellectual Property Organization (WO), and China (CN), and approximately half of the patents were JP and US patents. Unfortunately, no current technologies for removing CO2 from large sources like coal-based power plants exist which satisfy the needs of safety, efficiency, and economy; further enhancement and innovation are much needed.