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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Clim.

Sec. Carbon Dioxide Removal

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fclim.2025.1558396

Comparative analysis of industrialization potentials of direct air capture technologies

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Mercedes-Benz AG, Stuttgart, Germany
  • 2 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study deals with the question which direct air capture technologies currently have the biggest potential for reaching a gigaton scale of capture capacity. Technologies that were examined are Alkaline Gas Washing, Temperature Vacuum Swing Adsorption, Electro Swing Adsorption, and Accelerated Weathering Carbon Capture. Using a multi-criteria decision-making model (PROMETHEE II) and cost predictions based on learning by doing were used to determine which technology has the highest potential.Results show that electro swing adsorption has the highest potential but comes with a lot of uncertainties that need to be cleared in the future, like costs and supply for adsorbents.Additionally, it was not tested under ambient conditions and therefore it's unclear how this technology will perform at atmospheric CO 2 levels. Next best would be accelerated weathering carbon capture, which needs no fresh water and has lower energy demand compared to temperature vacuum swing adsorption. A major disadvantage might be the land requirements and the high temperatures to regenerate the carbonates. Temperature vacuum swing adsorption follows shortly after, mainly profiting from a great cost reduction potential from learning by doing and a comparably small land footprint. Alkaline Gas Washing showed the lowest potential, but through improving the process, it will also have the possibility to be applied at gigaton scale.

    Keywords: Direct air capture, Temperature vacuum swing adsorption, Alkaline Gas Washing, electro swing adsorption, Industrialization, Multi criteria decision making, prognosis, PROMETHEE II Frontiers

    Received: 10 Jan 2025; Accepted: 26 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Koch and Dittmeyer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Robin Koch, Mercedes-Benz AG, Stuttgart, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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