Carbon capture just got cheaper and far more efficient.
A team at the University of Houston has unveiled two major breakthroughs that could slash the cost of trapping harmful carbon emissions.
The discoveries promise to make carbon capture more accessible, offering a real chance to curb greenhouse gases at scale.
Led by Mim Rahimi, professor at UH’s Cullen College of Engineering, the researchers believe their innovations mark a step-change in the global fight against climate change. “Climate change mitigation was basically the reason we pursued this research,” Rahimi said.
“We need solutions, and we wanted to be part of the solution. The biggest suspect out there is CO₂ emissions, so the low-hanging fruit would be to eliminate those emissions.”
Two-in-one innovation
The first advance, published in Nature Communications, focuses on amine-based carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture, one of the most widely used methods in industry. Traditional electrochemical systems rely on expensive ion-exchange membranes that drive up costs and reduce reliability.
The Houston team found a way around this by replacing the membranes with engineered gas diffusion electrodes.
That seemingly simple tweak made all the difference. It streamlined the process, cut down energy demands, and delivered a removal efficiency of more than 90%.
According to the researchers, that’s nearly 50% higher than traditional electrochemically mediated amine regeneration (EMAR) approaches.
Importantly, the system could capture CO₂ at roughly $70 per metric ton, placing it in the same league as the most advanced amine scrubbing methods available today.
Ph.D. student Ahmad Hassan, lead author of the study, called the breakthrough a “game-changer.” He said, “By removing the membrane and the associated hardware, we’ve streamlined the EMAR workflow and dramatically cut energy use. This opens the door to retrofitting existing industrial exhaust systems with a compact, low-cost carbon capture module.”
But the team didn’t stop there. A second breakthrough, published in ES&T Engineering and featured on the journal’s cover, tackled another big challenge: how to link carbon capture with renewable energy storage. Ph.D. student Mohsen Afshari developed a vanadium redox flow battery system that can both absorb CO₂ and stabilize the grid.
In this setup, carbon dioxide is captured during charging and released upon discharge, while the vanadium chemistry ensures cycle stability and strong capture capacity.
“Integrating carbon capture directly into a redox flow battery lets us tackle two challenges in one device,” Afshari said.
The implications are significant. Pairing carbon removal with renewable storage could allow power plants and other heavy emitters to cut emissions while also balancing intermittent solar and wind generation
That kind of dual-function system would lower costs and make climate technologies more appealing to industries hesitant to adopt them.
“These publications reflect our group’s commitment to fundamental electrochemical innovation and real-world applicability,” Rahimi said. “From membraneless systems to scalable flow systems, we’re charting pathways to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors and support the transition to a low-carbon economy.”
With carbon capture costs dropping and efficiency rising, the University of Houston team believes these twin innovations could accelerate deployment in power plants, refineries, and industrial sites worldwide.
