http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/sccs/capture/precombustion.html Pre-Combustion Capture Pre-combustion capture involves removal of CO2 prior to combustion, to produce hydrogen.

Hydrogen combustion produces no CO2 emissions, with water vapour being the main by-product. Provided that this technology is used with carbon storage it could provide a CO2emission free fuel for the future.

The capture process consists of three stages; firstly the hydrocarbon fuel (ty into hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO) to form a synthesis gas. The seco reacting it with water and which is known as shift conversion. Finally, the C then be combusted cleanly. The CO2 can then be compressed into liquid an Pros: Proven industrial scale technology in oil refineries, but needs 3x scale-up for power plants. 90-95% of CO2 emissions can be captured. Applicable to natural gas, and to coal fired IGCC power plants. Lowest technology risk, and may become the most efficient method. Can produce H2 as transportable energy vector, or liquid fuels from coal - but penalties on efficiency. Cons:

Requires a chemical plant in front of gas turbine. High investment cost of dedicated new-build plant. High NOx emissions will require expensive scrubbers. Efficiency of H2 burning turbines is lower than conventional turbines. May be less flexible under varying electicity generation market requirement, so base load preferred.

Carbon Dioxide Capture CO2 capture is the process of removing CO2 (carbon dioxide) produced by hydrocarbon combustion (coal, oil and gas) before it enters the atmosphere. The process will be most cost effective when it is used on large point sources of CO2such as power stations and industrial

plants. These currently make up more than half of all man-made CO2 emissions. CO2 capture is an existing industrial technology widely used, on a smaller scale, in the manufacture of fertilizers, the food-processing industry and within the oil and gas sector. The main challenge for any capture process is the low concentration of CO2in the flue gas. Depending on the industrial source CO2 content can vary from a few percent to well over fifty percent. Other contaminant gases such as oxygen, sulphur oxides, water vapour and nitrogen can also be present in flue gases. For reasons of both economic and energy costs it would be impossible to compress and store all of them. Therefore CO2 must be preferentially separated from the other flue gases by a capturing process. There are currently three main methods of capturing CO2: Post-combustion capture Pre-combustion capture Oxy-fuel combustion capture
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more about current research into Carbon Capture processes