A review of zeolite adsorbents and membranes for CO2 capture and separation applications

Carbon emissions continue to rise globally, exceeding 40 billion metric tons, creating an urgent need for efficient capture and separation technologies. Zeolites have shown considerable attention because of their pore structure, high thermal stability, and strong affinity toward CO 2 . This review summarizes recent progress in zeolite adsorbents and membranes for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), with emphasis on adsorption capacity, selectivity, cyclic stability, and cryogenic distillation. Zeolite adsorbents commonly exhibit CO 2 uptakes of about 1.0 to 6.0 mmol g − 1 under practical operating conditions, while modified systems can achieve higher values, depending on the zeolite framework type, cation composition, and adsorption temperature. Zeolites are excellent at adsorption, catalytic CO 2 conversion, and integration into larger CO 2 value chain pathways to transform adsorbed CO 2 into useful compounds including energy, industrial sustainability, and methanol and syngas. This review further discusses structure performance relationships, adsorption-assisted systems, techno-economic considerations, and future research needs for scalable CCUS applications. Overall, zeolites remain strong candidates for low-cost, durable, and industrially relevant CO 2 capture technologies.