The role of membrane properties and environmental footprint in shaping the cost-climate optimal carbon capture processes
4 affiliations
- 1Laboratory of Advanced Separations
- 2École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL
- 3Energy and Process Systems Engineering
- 4ETH Zurich
Abstract
Membrane development for carbon capture is typically guided by CO2 permeability and CO2/N2 selectivity, although these properties alone cannot determine whether a material will deliver economically and environmentally favourable performance at scale. Herein, we develop a multi-criteria optimization framework that integrates a machine-learning surrogate model of a multi-stage membrane process with techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment. By applying this framework to mixed matrix membranes, we investigate the interplay of membrane properties and membrane-specific inventories in defining process-level costs and environmental indicators. For the capture from flue gases produced by a waste incinerator plant and a cement plant, electricity is mostly driven by CO2/O2 selectivity within the investigated range and is the dominant contributor to process costs and climate change impacts. This makes the climate benefits of membrane-based capture strongly dependent on the electricity supply: high-performance membranes supplied with carbon-intensive electricity can have climate change impacts comparable to or even higher than those of low-performing membranes supplied with low-carbon electricity. Therefore, we show for the first time how the system-level context shapes the properties that must be prioritized and their target values to unlock economic and environmental benefits: membrane synthesis and lifetime have a substantial impact in the presence of clean electricity, whereas increasingly high CO2/O2 and CO2/N2 selectivity are needed in the presence of moderate to high carbon intensity. Overall, with this work, we identify priorities for improvement in membrane production and performance that could only be revealed by jointly considering process-level costs and environmental impacts.
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BibTeX
@misc{bempeli2026role,
title = {{The role of membrane properties and environmental footprint in shaping the cost-climate optimal carbon capture processes}},
author = {Stefania Bempeli and Julian Nohl and Hitesh Sewani and Andre Bardow and Marina Micari},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010267/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010267/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The role of membrane properties and environmental footprint in shaping the cost-climate optimal carbon capture processes
AU - Stefania Bempeli
AU - Julian Nohl
AU - Hitesh Sewani
AU - Andre Bardow
AU - Marina Micari
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010267/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010267/v1
AB - Membrane development for carbon capture is typically guided by CO2 permeability and CO2/N2 selectivity, although these properties alone cannot determine whether a material will deliver economically and environmentally favourable performance at scale. Herein, we develop a multi-criteria optimization framework that integrates a machine-learning surrogate model of a multi-stage membrane process with techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment. By applying this framework to mixed matrix membranes, we investigate the interplay of membrane properties and membrane-specific inventories in defining process-level costs and environmental indicators. For the capture from flue gases produced by a waste incinerator plant and a cement plant, electricity is mostly driven by CO2/O2 selectivity within the investigated range and is the dominant contributor to process costs and climate change impacts. This makes the climate benefits of membrane-based capture strongly dependent on the electricity supply: high-performance membranes supplied with carbon-intensive electricity can have climate change impacts comparable to or even higher than those of low-performing membranes supplied with low-carbon electricity. Therefore, we show for the first time how the system-level context shapes the properties that must be prioritized and their target values to unlock economic and environmental benefits: membrane synthesis and lifetime have a substantial impact in the presence of clean electricity, whereas increasingly high CO2/O2 and CO2/N2 selectivity are needed in the presence of moderate to high carbon intensity. Overall, with this work, we identify priorities for improvement in membrane production and performance that could only be revealed by jointly considering process-level costs and environmental impacts.
ER -