This is the first in a series of reports that provide detail on the various capture technologies, with a primary focus on the power industry. These reports appeal not only to technical stakeholders, but also to non-technical project people and other stakeholders responsible for regulation and funding of large-scale integrated projects. The reports have been developed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for the Global CCS Institute.

By necessity, the reports have been split in terms of technology (post-combustion, pre-combustion, and oxy-combustion carbon capture), with a specific section examining each topic in detail. There is also an overview that provides an overall comparison, as well as background to allow stakeholders to interpret information in the different capture technology report sections.

Other key points raised in the overview are:

• Although current technology needs further improvements, it is extremely important to demonstrate CCS on a commercial scale as soon as possible. This is necessary for the demonstration of capture technology operating in an integrated mode in a real power plant and in a real power grid environment. 
• Unless progress is made at the commercial CCS demonstration scale, it will become increasingly difficult to justify continued R&D funding on potential improvements to capture and storage technologies. 
• If multiple CCS demonstrations with improved technologies are to be achieved at large scale by 2020 to proceed with commercial deployment, many technologies need to be approaching the pilot plant stage today. 
• Thermal efficiency improvements in 'host' power plants (without carbon capture) offer an effective way to mitigate carbon emissions in their own right (2 per cent efficiency improvements result in a 5 per cent reduction in carbon emissions).