Carbon Capture at Scale: Materials, Process Platforms, and Integration Strategies

Abstract

Carbon capture has become a central element of decarbonization strategies because it can reduce emissions from concentrated industrial sources while also enabling atmospheric CO₂ removal. This review re-examines the field through the combined lenses of process route, material performance, and system integration. Post-combustion, pre-combustion, oxy-fuel, and direct air capture pathways are compared alongside absorption, adsorption, membrane, and cryogenic separation technologies. The synthesis brings together bibliometric evidence, technology-readiness screening, and benchmarking of energy demand, cost, and environmental constraints reported in the literature. Particular attention is given to sorbent chemistry, structured contactors, humid operating conditions, and low-partial-pressure CO₂ capture. The results show that mature solvent systems remain dominant at industrial scale, whereas advanced solids, hybrid flowsheets, and intensified regeneration strategies are reshaping the performance frontier. The review also identifies integration with low-grade heat, renewable electricity, transport and storage networks, and carbon utilization pathways as decisive factors for scale-up. Overall, carbon capture is best viewed not as a single technology, but as an interconnected portfolio whose future depends on coordinated advances in materials, process engineering, infrastructure, and policy.