Membrane Separation Technology in Direct Air Capture

Direct air capture (DAC) is an emerging negative CO₂ emission technology that aims to introduce a feasible method for CO₂ capture from the atmosphere. Unlike carbon capture from point sources, which deals with flue gas at high CO₂ concentrations, carbon capture directly from the atmosphere has proved difficult due to the low CO₂ concentration in ambient air. Current DAC technologies mainly consider sorbent-based systems; however, membrane technology can be considered a promising DAC approach since it provides several advantages, e.g., lower energy and operational costs, less environmental footprint, and more potential for small-scale ubiquitous installations. Several recent advancements in validating the feasibility of highly permeable gas separation membrane fabrication and system design show that membrane-based direct air capture (m-DAC) could be a complementary approach to sorbent-based DAC, e.g., as part of a hybrid system design that incorporates other DAC technologies (e.g., solvent or sorbent-based DAC). In this article, the ongoing research and DAC application attempts via membrane separation have been reviewed. The reported membrane materials that could potentially be used for m-DAC are summarized. In addition, the future direction of m-DAC development is discussed, which could provide perspective and encourage new researchers’ further work in the field of m-DAC.