Membrane materials targeting carbon capture and utilization

Over the past decades, fossil fuel combustion has emitted large quantities of CO₂ into the atmosphere, resulting in global climate change. Nowadays, it's considered a feasible strategy to capture CO₂ from some significant point sources. Three main strategies have been developed, namely post-combustion, pre-combustion, and oxy-fuel combustion. Recent research indicates that the membrane technology for CO₂ capture has become competitive compared with conventional technologies because of the improved separation performance in materials and process designs. This paper mainly reviews the progress and breakthroughs of membrane materials for the three gas separation systems corresponding to the CO₂ capture strategies. Besides, the CO₂ utilization by the membrane process has also been highlighted.