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Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering· 2026Q1· Review

Flexibility in adsorption-based direct air capture: drivers, mechanisms, and research needs

Patrik Postweiler, Matteo Gazzani, Niklas von der Assen, Carsten Wedler

Short summary

Adsorption-based Direct Air Capture (DAC) can improve cost-effectiveness by leveraging time-varying external drivers like renewable energy availability and electricity prices.

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Key points

  • Direct Air Capture (DAC) can be made more cost-effective by adapting its operation to time-varying external factors.
  • Flexibility in DAC refers to its ability to operate under changing conditions (e.g., renewable energy supply, electricity prices) while maintaining performance.
  • Flexibility can be achieved through inherent design robustness or dynamic operational adaptations.
  • Key research needs include dynamic modeling, experiments that account for temporal variability, and integrated process-to-system frameworks.

AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.

Abstract

Direct Air Capture (DAC) is key for net-zero goals, but its high energy demand and costs prevent large-scale deployment. Leveraging time-varying external drivers — renewables availability, electricity prices, ambient conditions, and downstream CO 2 demand — offers a promising pathway to improve its cost-effectiveness. We define flexibility in DAC as the ability to operate under time-varying boundary conditions while maintaining adequate performance. We distinguish between flexibility by design (inherent robustness) and flexibility by operation (dynamic adaptation). Focusing on adsorption-based DAC, we classify flexibility mechanisms into system-level and process-level approaches. Key needs include dynamic modeling, integration of temporal variability in experiments, and multi-scale frameworks linking process and systems.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, 2026 · DOI ↗

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Field: Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical EngineeringEngineering