CBET-EPSRC- ecoDAC - Design and optimization of resource-efficient direct air capture systems

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) can be used to make useful products like fuels, plastics, and bioplastics. One way to obtain CO₂ is direct air capture (DAC), which removes carbon dioxide from air. The most common method, called solid sorbent direct air capture (S-DAC), uses special materials that trap CO₂ from air. Despite its potential, the technology is not widely used yet because its performance depends on weather conditions like temperature and humidity. This joint project between NSF (US) and EPSRC (UK) will improve this technology by creating digital models that help scientists and engineers design and operate S-DAC systems more efficiently while saving energy and lowering costs. It will also study how much land, energy, and water these systems need and how they might affect nearby ecosystems, which will help policymakers in the UK and the US make informed decisions about using this technology. The findings of this project will establish a new standard for the design and analysis of solid-sorbent direct air capture (S-DAC) systems worldwide. By integrating process engineering principles with techno-economic analysis, life-cycle assessment, experimental validation, and system-level integration, the project will identify cost-effective and environmentally efficient deployment pathways for S-DAC technologies. The program will commission an experimental testing unit to validate promising sorbent materials and determine optimal operating conditions under varying ambient environments. It will develop optimized and robust S-DAC system designs through modelling and optimization, enabling comparison of sorbent performance and identification of configurations suitable for different regional climates. It will evaluate system layouts that incorporate integrated energy and water management strategies, including quantification of heat recovery potential and associated costs. It will derive eco-efficient solutions for regional-scale deployment using optimization frameworks that capture the interconnected energy–water–land resource nexus and geographic constraints. The project will advance multiple research fields by contributing new knowledge to separation process engineering via novel S-DAC designs, open-access process models, and experimental datasets. The project will also support materials science through process-informed screening tools for DAC sorbents and expand the capabilities of Process Systems Engineering with data-driven methodologies that accelerate the evaluation and optimization of separation process configurations beyond DAC applications. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2620668 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Efstratios Pistikopoulos | Institution: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, COLLEGE STATION, TX | Award Amount: $450,000 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2620668 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2620668.html