This report provides an update for post-combustion carbon capture in the power industry. It was developed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) on behalf of the Global CCS Institute.

Post-combustion capture refers to the separation of CO₂ from flue gas derived from combusting fossil fuels – coal, natural gas, or oil – in air. Some key points raised in the post-combustion carbon capture report include:

• The exclusive emphasis is currently on absorption (into solvents) on near-term technologies, reflecting the fact that industry’s CO₂ capture chemistry knowledge and overall process experience are both heavily slated towards absorption.
• The major challenges in post-combustion capture revolve around the relatively large parasitic load CCS imposes on a power plant, the majority of which is due to capture, especially the energy needed to regenerate the solvent.
• Development of new chemistry, new process designs and novel power plant integration schemes all aimed at reducing the parasitic load of CCS are the focus of virtually all R&D in post-combustion capture. 
• In general, capital cost reductions, solvent degradation, solvent volatility and other such parameters are secondary to the prime issue of reduction in parasitic load on the host power plant imposed by the process itself.