Several industrial sectors, including cement production, biogas upgrading, waste-to-energy, and fermentation, generate CO₂-rich gas streams with high relative humidity. While adsorption-based CO₂ capture is attractive for its compatibility with PSA/VSA systems, most existing solid sorbents perform poorly under humid conditions, requiring gas drying and energy-intensive thermal regeneration. To address these limitations, researchers from the FUNIMAT group at the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) and the University of Valencia (UV) have developed a novel material that captures CO₂ directly from humid gas streams and releases it through pressure reduction, without the need for thermal input.
MUV-92 is a hydrophobic, ultramicroporous metal–organic material developed for efficient CO₂ capture under very high humidity. It retains around 90% of its CO₂ capacity even at 95% relative humidity and enables CO₂ release through pressure swing without thermal regeneration. The material is being adapted into spray-dried spherical beads for direct use in existing PSA/VSA units, targeting applications such as biogas upgrading, cement plants, waste-to-energy facilities, and other industrial processes with humid CO₂ streams.
The technology has been validated under laboratory conditions. The research team can produce batches of up to 250 g of material, and a patent application has been filed and is pending grant. Initial benchmarking against state-of-the-art sorbents (e.g., CALF-20, PEI/SiO₂, and zeolite 13X) shows superior performance under high-humidity conditions.
Benefits:
- Direct CO₂ capture from humid streams, avoiding upstream gas drying.
- High CO₂ capacity maintained under very high humidity.
- Low-energy regeneration via pressure swing, without heating.
- High stability and cyclability under wet conditions.
- Drop-in compatibility with existing PSA/VSA systems.
- Reduced CAPEX and OPEX compared to conventional solutions.
Objective of the collaboration
- Validate the technology under real operating conditions with an industrial partner (e.g., cement, biogas upgrading, or waste-to-energy facilities).
- Establish a licensing agreement following successful validation.
- Optionally, engage the industrial partner in joint funding projects (e.g., Horizon Europe, EIC) to reduce risk and share scale-up costs.
Institution: Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) and the University of Valencia (UV)
TRL: 4-5
Protection Status: Patent Application
Contact: Nuria Bas / nuria@viromii.com