Electrifying CO2 temperature swing adsorption: A comparative review of resistive, induction, and microwave heating from material properties to process performance

Abstract

Electrified temperature swing adsorption (eTSA) has emerged as a promising approach for intensified post-combustion CO₂ capture by enabling direct heat generation within the adsorption bed and thereby reducing the thermal limitations associated with conventional externally heated TSA systems. This review systematically compares the three main electrified heating approaches currently investigated for post-combustion CO₂ capture: Resistive heating (RH), Induction heating (IH), and Microwave heating (MWH). To improve comparability across the fragmented and predominantly laboratory-scale eTSA literature, publications of comparable boundary conditions were analyzed using homogeneous evaluation criteria including working capacity, CO₂/N₂ selectivity, heating rate, temperature homogeneity, regeneration energy and electrical and thermal energy efficiencies. Among the reviewed adsorbents, physisorbents dominated the current eTSA literature, particularly metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), zeolites, and activated carbons (ACs). Mg-MOF-74 and Mg-Gallate exhibited the highest working capacities, followed by the zeolites 13X and NaUSY, while AC offers direct applicability for RH and MWH because of its conductive and microwave-responsive properties. However, humidity sensitivity remains a major limitation for high adsorption capacity physisorbents. All reviewed electrified heating approaches achieved substantially higher heating rates than conventional conductive wall heating or hot gas purge systems. RH has a potentially very high overall energy efficiency, although homogeneous current distribution remains challenging. IH provides high flexibility in adsorbent selection through magnetic heating additives and offers strong potential for homogeneous internal heating, while efficient magnetic field coupling remains the key challenge for energy-efficient operation. MWH enables extremely rapid heating without necessarily requiring additional heating materials but faces challenges regarding temperature homogeneity and electric-to-thermal energy efficiency. Overall, all electrified approaches still face important scale-up challenges regarding heat and field distribution, and electrical-to-thermal energy efficiency. This review highlights the strong potential of eTSA for flexible and intensified CO₂ capture while identifying humidity-tolerant adsorbents, cyclic stability, heat-management optimization, and realistic process-scale evaluation as key priorities for future research and industrial implementation.