Abstract: A process for capturing carbon dioxide in which an exhaust stream containing carbon dioxide is cooled by a plurality of stages of indirect heat exchange to produce a cooled exhaust stream, compressed over a plurality of stages of compression, and separated to produce a CO2-enriched stream and a CO2-depleted stream. The CO2-enriched stream is dehydrated by contacting the CO2-enriched stream with a regenerated desiccant to produce a CO2 product stream and a spent desiccant. The CO2-depleted stream is heated by indirect heat exchange against the exhaust stream to produce a hot CO2-depleted stream, while a portion of the CO2-depleted stream is extracted from an interstage of the plurality of stages of indirect heat exchange to regenerate the spent desiccant. The hot CO2-depleted stream is expanded over a plurality of stages of expansion to drive the compression of the cooled exhaust, thereby producing an expanded CO2-depleted stream.