Efficient Direct Air Capture in Industrial Cooling Towers Mediated by Electrochemical CO2 Release

Ao Chuan Zheng; Ye Bin Zou; Lin Du; Qiang Zhang; Kim Daasbjerg; Xin Ming Hu

doi:10.1002/anie.202412697

Efficient Direct Air Capture in Industrial Cooling Towers Mediated by Electrochemical CO₂ Release

Ao Chuan Zheng
, Ye Bin Zou
, Lin Du
, Qiang Zhang
, Kim Daasbjerg
, Xin Ming Hu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Direct air capture (DAC) is a promising technology for mitigating global climate change but suffers from low efficiency, small scale, and high cost due to the dilute atmospheric CO₂, limited size of air contactors, and heat-driven CO₂ release. Here, we propose combining DAC with widely used industrial cooling towers to extract CO₂ from the air and using electrolysis to release the captured CO₂ at room temperature. We first prepare a buffered absorbent solution consisting of sodium glycinate, glycine, and sodium chloride for effective CO₂ capture from the air, solving the incompatibility problem of the cooling towers with conventional absorbents. Next, we employ a three-chamber electrolyzer for efficient release (≥95 %) of the captured CO₂ with high purity (≥98 %) by constant current electrolysis at room temperature, bypassing the conventional energy-intensive heating process. The entire DAC system can operate stably for multiple cycles, and the mechanism for consecutive CO₂ capture and release is uncovered. This work reveals the great potential of running DAC in industrial cooling towers coupled with electrochemically-driven CO₂ release, opening up new avenues for curbing the increasingly severe climate change.

Original language	English
Article number	e202412697
Journal	Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume	64
Issue	5
Number of pages	12
ISSN	1433-7851
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202412697
Publication status	Published - Jan 2025

Keywords

Buffered absorbent solution
Direct air capture
Electrochemical CO release
Industrial cooling tower
Scalability

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title = "Efficient Direct Air Capture in Industrial Cooling Towers Mediated by Electrochemical CO2 Release",

abstract = "Direct air capture (DAC) is a promising technology for mitigating global climate change but suffers from low efficiency, small scale, and high cost due to the dilute atmospheric CO2, limited size of air contactors, and heat-driven CO2 release. Here, we propose combining DAC with widely used industrial cooling towers to extract CO2 from the air and using electrolysis to release the captured CO2 at room temperature. We first prepare a buffered absorbent solution consisting of sodium glycinate, glycine, and sodium chloride for effective CO2 capture from the air, solving the incompatibility problem of the cooling towers with conventional absorbents. Next, we employ a three-chamber electrolyzer for efficient release (≥95 \%) of the captured CO2 with high purity (≥98 \%) by constant current electrolysis at room temperature, bypassing the conventional energy-intensive heating process. The entire DAC system can operate stably for multiple cycles, and the mechanism for consecutive CO2 capture and release is uncovered. This work reveals the great potential of running DAC in industrial cooling towers coupled with electrochemically-driven CO2 release, opening up new avenues for curbing the increasingly severe climate change.",

keywords = "Buffered absorbent solution, Direct air capture, Electrochemical CO release, Industrial cooling tower, Scalability",

author = "Zheng, \{Ao Chuan\} and Zou, \{Ye Bin\} and Lin Du and Qiang Zhang and Kim Daasbjerg and Hu, \{Xin Ming\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.",

year = "2025",

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doi = "10.1002/anie.202412697",

language = "English",

volume = "64",

journal = "Angewandte Chemie - International Edition",

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Efficient Direct Air Capture in Industrial Cooling Towers Mediated by Electrochemical CO₂ Release. / Zheng, Ao Chuan; Zou, Ye Bin; Du, Lin et al.
In: Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, Vol. 64, No. 5, e202412697, 01.2025.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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T1 - Efficient Direct Air Capture in Industrial Cooling Towers Mediated by Electrochemical CO2 Release

AU - Zheng, Ao Chuan

AU - Zou, Ye Bin

AU - Du, Lin

AU - Zhang, Qiang

AU - Daasbjerg, Kim

AU - Hu, Xin Ming

PY - 2025/1

Y1 - 2025/1

N2 - Direct air capture (DAC) is a promising technology for mitigating global climate change but suffers from low efficiency, small scale, and high cost due to the dilute atmospheric CO2, limited size of air contactors, and heat-driven CO2 release. Here, we propose combining DAC with widely used industrial cooling towers to extract CO2 from the air and using electrolysis to release the captured CO2 at room temperature. We first prepare a buffered absorbent solution consisting of sodium glycinate, glycine, and sodium chloride for effective CO2 capture from the air, solving the incompatibility problem of the cooling towers with conventional absorbents. Next, we employ a three-chamber electrolyzer for efficient release (≥95 %) of the captured CO2 with high purity (≥98 %) by constant current electrolysis at room temperature, bypassing the conventional energy-intensive heating process. The entire DAC system can operate stably for multiple cycles, and the mechanism for consecutive CO2 capture and release is uncovered. This work reveals the great potential of running DAC in industrial cooling towers coupled with electrochemically-driven CO2 release, opening up new avenues for curbing the increasingly severe climate change.

AB - Direct air capture (DAC) is a promising technology for mitigating global climate change but suffers from low efficiency, small scale, and high cost due to the dilute atmospheric CO2, limited size of air contactors, and heat-driven CO2 release. Here, we propose combining DAC with widely used industrial cooling towers to extract CO2 from the air and using electrolysis to release the captured CO2 at room temperature. We first prepare a buffered absorbent solution consisting of sodium glycinate, glycine, and sodium chloride for effective CO2 capture from the air, solving the incompatibility problem of the cooling towers with conventional absorbents. Next, we employ a three-chamber electrolyzer for efficient release (≥95 %) of the captured CO2 with high purity (≥98 %) by constant current electrolysis at room temperature, bypassing the conventional energy-intensive heating process. The entire DAC system can operate stably for multiple cycles, and the mechanism for consecutive CO2 capture and release is uncovered. This work reveals the great potential of running DAC in industrial cooling towers coupled with electrochemically-driven CO2 release, opening up new avenues for curbing the increasingly severe climate change.

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KW - Electrochemical CO release

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KW - Scalability

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