Page 370 - Air pollution and greenhouse gases from basic concepts to engineering applications for air emission control

Chapter 12
Carbon Capture and Storage

12.1 Background Information

It has been accepted globally that carbon dioxide and several other gases known as
greenhouse gases (GHGs) are causing global climate change by changing the
physical and chemical processes in the Earth’s upper troposphere and stratosphere.
An independent record of the global average surface temperature shows that global
warming is a fact of the past 130 years [5]. Although existing data published by
different researchers differ from each other as a result of their data selection, pro-
cessing, and bias corrections, they are leading to the same conclusion that global
surface temperature has increased by 0.6–0.7 °C over the past century.
GHGs allow solar energy to enter the atmosphere freely. When sunlight strikes
the surface of the Earth, some of the solar energy returns to space by reflection of
infrared radiation. GHGs also absorb this infrared radiation and trap the heat in the
atmosphere. If the amount of heat (or solar energy) from the Sun to the Earth’s
surface is the same as that leaving the Earth’s surface to space, then the temperature
of the Earth’s surface remains stable. This perfect balance allows life to sustain on
planet Earth.
However, there is an uncertainty in how the climate system varies naturally and
reacts to extra GHGs. Making progress in reducing uncertainties in projections of
future climate will require an understanding of the buildup of GHGs in the atmo-
sphere and the behavior of the climate system.
The most important GHGs include carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), and
nitrous oxide (N 2 O). However, the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmo-
sphere is actually water vapor, which doubles the greenhouse effects caused by all
the other GHGs. Some of the GHGs exist in nature and they include water vapor,
carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide; others are exclusively human-made
such as fluorinated gases are created solely by human activities. This is referred to
as the “enhanced greenhouse effect” or the “anthropogenic greenhouse effect” as it
is primarily due to the human activities.

© Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2014 349
Z. Tan, Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases, Green Energy and Technology,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-212-8_12