Integration of Ultrahigh Capacity Sorbents into Direct Air Capture Systems

Addressing climate change from greenhouse gas emissions to prevent continued global warming will be done with a suite of technologies. Direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide (CO2) is receiving significant attention as a way to reverse these emissions, however, it is a relatively new technology that will require continued technology development for viable cost targets to be realized. DAC is significantly more challenging than carbon capture from power plant flue gas since the CO2 concentration in flue gas 100 times higher than in ambient air concentrations, therefore traditional CO2 removal technologies cannot be efficiently applied to DAC. The dilute CO2 concentration in ambient air requires processing massive amounts of air to achieve meaningful removal levels, requiring new materials and systems to effectively capture CO2. While DAC is possible through both liquid and solid-sorbent technologies, the lower energy costs for solid-sorbent technology can facilitate widespread, rapid deployment of DAC systems. However, current DAC materials (sorbents) do not remove enough CO2, requiring large amounts of sorbent which leads to increased system sizes. Mosaic Materials has developed an ultrahigh capacity sorbent based using materials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Our MOF sorbent technology significantly outperforms other sorbents with respect to CO2 capacity, selectivity, and removal under extremely low CO2 concentrations. In this project, we are developing methods of integrating this material into a contactor array that can allow for the material to efficiently process incoming air for a direct air capture system. After developing a prototype contactor, we will use the prototype to capture and release CO2 continuously, allowing Mosaic Materials to measure the long-term performance of the technology and better estimate the cost savings our technology offers. This delivers against ARPA-E’s approach in funding transformative, disruptive technologies, and its charter to develop energy technologies that result in reductions of energyrelated emissions while creating new manufacturing and energy jobs in the United States.