Impact of High Capture Rates and Solvent and Emission Management Strategies on the Costs of Full-Scale Post-Combustion Co2 Capture Plants Using Long-Term Pilot Plant Data

•This work quantifies the economics of full-scale post-combustion CO2 capture plants when capture rates go beyond 90% and when the tested solvent degradation and emissions management strategies are considered.•To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that uses experimental data on solvent degradation and emissions measurements from long-term pilot plan campaigns to evaluate the costs associated to solvent management and emissions mitigation.•For lignite-fired power plants, CESAR1 is not per se a cheaper solvent system than MEA when actual solvent losses (or their mitigation measures) are considered, contrary to what earlier studies have suggested.•The cost increase of increasing capture rates from 90% to 95% or 98% is small and should not prohibit applying solvent-based CO2 capture technology also when moving towards net-zero-CO2 emissions.