{"id":172071,"date":"2026-01-09T07:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T06:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=172071"},"modified":"2026-01-06T11:19:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:19:58","slug":"graphene-membranes-show-promise-for-cheaper-co%e2%82%82-capture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/graphene-membranes-show-promise-for-cheaper-co%e2%82%82-capture\/","title":{"rendered":"Graphene membranes show promise for cheaper CO\u2082 capture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Carbon capture is becoming essential for industries that still depend on fossil fuels, including the cement and steel industries. Natural-gas power plants, coal plants, and cement factories all release large amounts of CO\u2082, and reducing those emissions is difficult without dedicated capture systems. Today, most plants rely on solvent-based systems that absorb CO\u2082, but these setups use a lot of heat, require major infrastructure, and can be costly to run.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A smaller, electricity\u2011driven alternative is what the field calls a “membrane” system. A membrane works like an ultra\u2011fine filter that lets certain gases slip through more easily than others, separating CO\u2082 from the rest of the flue gas. The problem is that many membranes lose efficiency when CO\u2082 levels are low, which is common in natural\u2011gas plants, and this limits where they can be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new study at EPFL<\/a> has now analyzed how a new membrane material, pyridinic\u2011graphene, could work at scale. This is a single\u2011layer graphene sheet with tiny pores that favor CO\u2082 over other gases. The researchers combined experimental performance data with modelling tools that simulate real operating conditions, such as energy use and gas flow. They also explored a wide range of cost scenarios to see how the material might behave once deployed in commercial plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study was led by Marina Micari and Kumar Varoon Agrawal who holds the Gaznat Chair in Advanced Separations<\/a>at EPFL. It is published in Nature Sustainability<\/em><\/a>, and builds on the group\u2019s previous research in developing scalable graphene membranes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAs we are scaling up the technology, it is important to understand the implications on reduction on energy use and cost of carbon capture in the diverse sector of carbon capture,\u201d says Agrawal.<\/strong> \u201cThis work address this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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An illustration of the graphene membrane separating CO2<\/sub>\u00a0from N2<\/sub>. \u00a9 Ivan Savicev, EPFL<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Modeling shows where the membrane performs best<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The team tested different graphene-based membranes, including the pyridinic-graphene membrane, under several plant setups to compare how they would perform in real conditions. For natural-gas power stations, a three-step system that starts by enriching the CO\u2082 stream reached promising costs, roughly USD 80\u2013100 per ton, with best cases down to USD 60\u201380. This is noteworthy because membranes usually struggle with such dilute flue gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In coal plants, where CO\u2082 levels are higher, the membrane\u2019s strong CO\u2082\/N\u2082 selectivity cuts energy use and brings costs into the USD 25\u201350 per-ton range. Cement plants have more oxygen in their flue gas, which makes selectivity trickier, but the membrane still reaches similar cost ranges and stays stable across the different scenarios tested. Across all three sectors, the membrane\u2019s high permeance keeps the required surface area small, which helps reduce the footprint of a full capture system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study shows that pyridinic-graphene could offer a compact and potentially cost-effective alternative to solvent-based capture once scaled. It also points to areas where the material could still improve, especially its ability to distinguish CO\u2082 from oxygen in cement flue gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Funding<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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