CO₂ Capture: From Materials to System Analysis

Achieving deep decarbonisation will require CO₂ capture solutions that are efficient, durable, and scalable across diverse point sources and dilute streams. Progress hinges on breakthroughs at multiple levels: (i) materials, where the design, synthesis, develop and advanced characterisation of sorbents, solvents, membranes, and mineralising solids determine selectivity, stability, capacity, kinetics, regenerability, and ageing resistance under realistic conditions (impurities, humidity, cycling, durability); (ii) unit operations and processes, where reactor concepts, heat/mass transfer, and control strategies govern energy use, energy-efficiency optimisation, productivity, scalability and reliability; and (iii) system integration, where capture is coupled with compression, storage, or utilisation pathways and assessed within broader energy, industrial, and environmental systems. Cross-cutting analyses—techno-economics (TEA), life-cycle assessment (LCA), and risk/safety can be considered drivers to ensure that promising laboratory advances translate into practical, bankable solutions.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Capture from point sources (cement, steel, refineries, bio-CO₂) and Direct Air Capture (DAC).
• Design, synthesis, and stability of sorbents/solvents/membranes.
• Structure–property–performance relationships and advanced operando/accelerated characterisation.
• Kinetics, transport, and cyclic performance under realistic impurities, temperature and humidity.
• Regeneration method and cycles (e.g., Temperature Swing Adsorption (TSA)/Vacuum Swing Adsorption (VSA)/Temperature Vacuum Swing Adsorption (TVSA), electro-swing, temperature swing, moisture-swing).
• Novel air contactors (structured packing and shaping, honeycomb and other structures, fixed-bed, moving-bed, rotary adsorption, membrane contactors, hybrid schemes).
• Heat and mass transfer, process intensification, integration options (such as renewable energy, waste heat sources, low-grade, or end-of-pipe heat sources and integration with industrial and environmental systems).
• Process simulation and modelling (mass and energy balances, kinetic models, steady-state models, dynamic models, and degradation models).
• Scale-up strategies: from breakthrough rigs to bench/pilot units; test protocols and KPIs.
• Energy efficiency optimisation and smart control integration for energy minimisation.
• Coupling capture with utilisation (fuels, polymers, carbonates) and with storage (geological, mineral).
• Continuous improvement strategies to reduce system-level CAPEX and OPEX through process optimisation, modular design, and performance benchmarking.
• TEA/LCA, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, and learning-curve/uptake modelling, including short- and long-term energy system scenarios.

This Research Topic bridges materials science and process/system engineering to identify actionable routes that reduce energy penalty, capital and operational costs, and environmental footprint from lab to pilot and early deployment. We particularly welcome contributions that connect molecular scale phenomena with process-level performance and plant- or regional-scale impacts.
We are looking for contributions—research, reviews, perspectives, and methods—that unite experimental insight, modelling, and data, and make the link from material and process innovation to tangible system benefits: lower energy and cost, fewer emissions, longer lifetimes. By bringing these pieces together, this issue aims to surface clear, actionable pathways to accelerate CO₂ capture in step with today’s climate and sustainability needs.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: CO2, capture, materials, integration, process

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.