Patent ID: 8715394

Claim:
A method to separate carbon dioxide from an exhaust stream from a combustion source, the method comprising a repeatable cycle comprising the steps of a. providing a bed comprising a CO 2 selective solid-state adsorbent selected to remain in its solid state and to retain its selectivity for CO 2 upon repeated exposure to steam at a preselected operating temperature; b. contacting the bed with a combustion exhaust gas to remove CO 2 from the combustion exhaust gas, thereby forming a solid-state adsorbent having bound CO 2 thereon, and a cleaned exhaust stream that contains less than about 5% CO 2 ; c. thereafter, contacting the bed containing solid-state adsorbent having CO2 adsorbed thereon with a sweep gas comprising steam to remove combustion exhaust gas remaining in the bed; d. thereafter, contacting the bed with steam to thereby remove CO 2 from the bed, and to thereby generate a gas comprising steam and CO 2 ; e. conveying the gas comprising steam and CO 2 to a vapor recompression system, and operating the vapor recompression system to thereby recover water, remove heat, and produce compressed CO 2 gas from the gas comprising steam and CO 2 ; and f. utilizing the water and heat recovered by the vapor recompression system to generate the sweep gas comprising steam, wherein, upon performance of the cycle, more than about 90% of the carbon contained in the combustion exhaust gas is recovered.