With CO2 emissions regulations and CO2-related environmental challenges on the rise, more and more focus has been placed on capturing CO2. CO2 can be captured where it is released, but can be a challenge to capture directly from air where its concentration is significantly lower.
CO2 can be adsorbed from ambient air, but this is typically inefficient because a large volume of air is required due to low CO2 concentration. This can be dealt with through active air flow mechanisms, which require a significant and continuous amount of energy. Alternatively, passive air capture mechanisms do not require any energy. However, they are often dependent on wind conditions and other factors to effectively capture CO2.
Dr. Joo-Youp Lee and his team have developed a passive direct-air capture system that is able to optimize air flow over sorbent layers to effectively capture CO2 regardless of wind directions and speeds, along with a chemical sorbent that effectively adsorbs CO2 at low ambient air concentrations. This system can also separate CO2 once adsorbed onto the sorbent with minimal energy required. Thus, this system captures CO2 directly from the air at a higher purity and a lower monetary cost than other traditional capture systems.