eREGENERATE

Resistive heating in structured hydrophobic sorbents for a highly Efficient and fully electrified Direct Air Capture technology

The eREGENERATE project aims to further advance Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology. DAC enables carbon dioxide (CO₂) to be removed directly from the ambient air. The goal of the project is to make this technology more efficient and durable, while ensuring it can operate entirely on renewable energy.

At the core of the project are particularly robust, cost-effective and water-repellent (hydrophobic) materials, known as structured sorbents. These materials reliably bind (adsorb) CO₂ on their surface, even at very low concentrations and under humid conditions. Using an innovative direct electrical heating approach, the bound CO₂ is then efficiently separated (desorbed) from the materials and made available for further use, for example in carbon-based materials or for permanent storage. This process can be fully powered by renewable energy. An intelligent control system optimises the overall process, taking into account weather conditions and the availability of renewable energy.

In addition to technological development, eREGENERATE places strong emphasis on societal acceptance. Stakeholders from policy, industry and civil society are involved at an early stage to jointly develop sustainable deployment strategies.

Within the project, the new technology is tested under real-world conditions and systematically prepared for future large-scale implementation. In this way, eREGENERATE makes an important contribution to the development of climate-friendly technologies.

The ifeu supports the research through an Integrated Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (ILCSA), which combines environmental, social and economic perspectives, and is responsible in particular for the environmental assessment including LCA. This work package identifies optimisation potentials, synergies and trade-offs between different sustainability goals, as well as key opportunities and challenges. In addition, environmental criteria are integrated into process optimisation from an early stage.