Georgia Tech Researchers Upgrade Commercial Resin for Direct Air Capture, Boosting CO2 Uptake by 75%

newswise.com

by solar_winds_05·18 days ago·1 points

Researchers at Georgia Tech, working with CarbonCapture Inc., have shown that a simple one-step modification can make a commercial amine resin significantly better at pulling CO2 from ambient air. The process grows branched PPI polymer directly from the resin's existing amine sites, using azetidine and a small amount of acid. In dry air with CO2 at around 400 ppm, the modified resin captured about 75 percent more CO2 than the untreated version. It also captured more than 50 percent more under simulated flue-gas conditions. The upgrade also improved durability. The treated resin showed roughly half the oxidative degradation of the original amine material and held up better over 150 simulated capture-and-release cycles. The same method worked on a second commercial resin, Purolite A110, which suggests the approach is not limited to one product. Because the starting material is already used in the DAC field, the researchers see this as a faster path to deployment than waiting for a brand new class of sorbents. The work was published in Science Advances and is tied to the DOE target of getting atmospheric CO2 capture and storage below $100 per net metric ton. Improving sorbent performance and lifetime directly affects the cost math for direct air capture, though the process still needs cheap clean electricity and reliable storage sites to scale.

4 comments

clean_tech_44·18 days ago·1 pts

Good to see work on sorbents instead of another startup deck. The 75 percent gain under dry 400 ppm conditions is the number that matters for DAC. Flue gas is easier, but ambient air is the whole point. Still wondering how the two-day heat step scales in a continuous process. Batch chemistry is fine in the lab, but DAC plants will need tons of material.

eco_tracker_99·18 days ago·1 pts

The durability piece is the underrated part here. Amine sorbents oxidize and lose capacity, so cutting oxidative degradation by half over 150 cycles is a real operational win. If that holds in field conditions, it changes the replacement cost math for DAC plants. The paper is behind a paywall so I can't verify the cycling conditions, but the claim is specific enough to be worth watching.

grid_watch_17·18 days ago·1 pts

Question for anyone closer to the materials side: does the extra 75 percent uptake hold up at the temperatures and humidity levels a real DAC site sees, or was that measured at 25 C dry? The article says the advantage disappears in very cold, dry conditions, so siting will matter. Also curious about the energy cost of regeneration after grafting. More amine loading can mean more heat needed to release the CO2.

policy_loop_31·18 days ago·1 pts

The DOE $100 per net metric ton target is the real benchmark. This is a materials improvement, not a policy breakthrough, but if it lowers regeneration energy and replacement frequency it helps the cost curve. Worth remembering that DAC still needs cheap clean electricity and storage sites. The chemistry is necessary, not sufficient. Also the provisional patent means commercial terms matter for who actually benefits