Recent Advances in CO₂ Removal through Direct Air Capture (DAC) Processes

It is evident that excessive CO₂ emissions have harmful environmental effects including ocean acidification, rising global temperature, severe weather and climate effects, and more. Although reducing carbon emissions by using renewable energy is vital for reducing these negative effects, the current concentration levels of atmospheric CO₂ is already beyond acceptable. Realistically, there is an urgent and inevitable need for negative CO₂ emissions. While nature plays its role to reduce CO₂ concentration through processes such as photosynthesis and rock weathering, obstacles such as land availability and the slow pace of these processes would be a major hurdle. Recently, researchers have been exploring various options for direct capture of CO₂ from the air as a viable approach to this problem. Capturing CO₂ from the air, also known as Direct Air Capture (DAC), has gained growing interest as a method for reversing climate change.

While direct air capture (DAC) seems to be a promising method for negative CO₂ emissions, it is still taking its early steps. Unlike many processes in the chemical industry. DAC is a newly developed process on an industrial scale and, therefore, there are still many hurdles to overcome. One of the major concerns associated with this process is its high cost. Techno-economic analyses based on various data sources have shown that the main sources of cost for DAC processes depend on the details of each process. The high cost of CO₂ sorbents, high CO₂ desorption energy, and low sorbent stability are among some of the main problems faced in this process. Therefore, reducing the cost of the process through reducing the cost of sorbents, increasing their lifetime, and reducing required adsorption/desorption energy for CO₂ are among today’s main goals for DAC.

Authors are welcome to send their recent research outcomes on DAC process, including their new findings on:

- New CO₂ sorbents
- Nanomaterials for the adsorption of CO₂
- Metal-organic frameworks (MOF) for CO₂ adsorption
- Sorbent lifetime and regeneration
- Increasing sorbent capacity for CO₂ capture

They are also encouraged to send us their recent findings on:

- CO₂ contactors
- DAC processes
- Proposed CO₂ adsorption/desorption techniques
- Their general views on the future of DAC and main concerns to consider
- The outlook of direct CO₂ removal from air

Articles in the form of original research, perspectives, and reviews are welcome.


Topic Editor Ali Bahmanpour is employed by company Emissol LLC, Topic Editor Bita Bayatsarmadi is employed by company CSIRO, and Topic Editor Fan Liang Chan is employed by company CF Technologies. As such all Topic Editors have declared their conflict of interest in any submission relating to their affiliation.

Keywords: Direct Air Capture (DAC), CO2 capture, CO2 removal, CO2 sorbent, CO2 adsorption/desorption

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