Abstract

"Humanity has opened the gates of hell... If nothing changes, we are heading towards a 2.8-degree temperature rise – towards a dangerous and unstable world." These are the warning words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and they should motivate us, as scientists and engineers, to help close this gate. But will carbon dioxide capture from air and industrial flue gas streams help? This lecture will present different approaches and the major industrial players currently involved in this field. Misleading claims and announcements will be exposed.

Direct Air Capture (DAC): Despite strong criticism, the direct capture of carbon dioxide from air is more popular than ever. On January 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy announced funding opportunities totaling over $3.5 billion to develop carbon capture and transport technologies. As a result, DAC-related research is increasing worldwide, driven by the availability of attractive funding. Industrial enterprises such as Carbon Engineering, Climeworks, Global Thermostat, and Halocene are already profiting by selling carbon credits to carbon dioxide-emitting companies. But does large-scale DAC make sense? Will it help fight global warming, or is it merely greenwashing for the oil and gas industry? Using basic physics equations, I will demonstrate that the promises of DAC projects are deceptive and that DAC will not reduce global warming. On the contrary, it even helps to keep the gates of hell open.

Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants: The flue gas from coal-fired power plants contains approximately 300 times more CO₂ than ambient air, making carbon capture from these sources more feasible. Membrane separation, amine absorption, and cryogenic separation are among the technologies used in this application. However, extracting CO₂ from flue gas consumes a substantial fraction of a plant’s energy. By analyzing the available facts, this lecture will demonstrate that post-combustion carbon capture will have little impact on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.

Steel, Cement, and Lime Production:  The steel and cement industries account for approximately 14% of global CO₂ emissions. Since the CO₂ concentration in flue gas from these industries is high, membrane separation is one of the most promising capture technologies. However, there has yet to be a commercial CO₂ capture plant for cement production, and only one exists in the steel industry. To achieve meaningful CO₂ emission reductions, separation technology should focus on this sector.

Biography

Klaus-V. Peinemann has over 35 years of experience in membrane research, spanning both industrial and academic fields. He has coordinated several European and national membrane projects and co-founded GMT Membrantechnik in Germany in 1995. Today, GMT Membrantechnik is part of the Borsig group and is a leading European company specializing in the production of membranes and modules for gas and vapor separation and organic solvent nanofiltration. From 2002 to 2004, Peinemann served as President of the European Membrane Society. He chaired the Euromembrane 2004 conference in Hamburg and co-chaired the Gordon Conference on Membrane Technology in 2012. He is an Honorary Professor at Leibniz University Hannover. He came to KAUST in September 2009; from 2011 to 2018, Peinemann was a Professor of Chemical Engineering at KAUST and now holds the title of Professor Emeritus. His research interests are multicomponent polymer-based membranes for liquid and gas separation, novel membrane preparation methods, solvent-stable membranes for nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, and self-assembled block copolymer membranes. He has published numerous papers in high-impact journals, including work on CO₂-selective membranes. Peinemann has returned to Germany and currently serves as a Senior Advisor for GMT Membrantechnik GmbH.