Structured sorbents for Direct Air Capture: the impact of materials and chemicals on performance
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Structured sorbents can efficiently process large air volumes required for Direct Air Capture (DAC), but their broad implementation is limited by challenges in producing reproducible and homogeneous materials. This work presents a robust procedure to graft amines onto monolithic sorbents and systematically investigates how CO2 capture performance is influenced by three fundamental material building blocks: substrate type (mullite vs. cordierite), alumina loading, and amine type (APTMS vs. TRI). X-ray Computed Tomography and gravimetric analyses confirm uniform amine distribution, with CO2 adsorption capacity scaling linearly with alumina mass. From a process perspective, lower density substrates achieve higher specific CO2 uptake, thus reducing the energy demand for regeneration. Breakthrough experiments demonstrate that humidity significantly enhances adsorption thermodynamics and kinetics: CO2 uptake increases by 30% for APTMS and 70% for TRI, and adsorption kinetics are accelerated. This study provides quantitative material performance relationships necessary for process design and contactor optimization.
Date Issued
2026-06-29
Date Acceptance
2026-06-03
Citation
AIChE Journal, 2026
ISSN
0001-1541
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
AIChE Journal
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Author(s). AIChE Journal published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
10.1002/aic.70513
Subjects
adsorption
contactor optimization
Direct Air Capture
humidity
structured sorbents
Publication Status
Published online
Article Number
e70513
Date Publish Online
2026-06-29