By Abbas Nazil
Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, have developed a new method to capture carbon dioxide directly from ambient air, using a specially designed compound.
The breakthrough was achieved by Postdoctoral Researcher Zahra Eshaghi Gorji in Professor Timo Repo’s group, who created a compound based on a combination of a superbase and alcohol.
Tests show that one gram of this compound can absorb 156 milligrams of carbon dioxide from untreated air while remaining completely unreactive to other atmospheric gases such as nitrogen and oxygen.
The compound offers a major advantage over existing carbon capture technologies because it allows the captured carbon dioxide to be released at a much lower temperature.
While current compounds typically require heating above 900 degrees Celsius to release CO2, the new compound can release the gas cleanly by heating it to just 70 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.
The clean carbon dioxide recovered in this process can be recycled and used for other purposes, contributing to circular economy solutions.
In addition to efficiency, the compound is highly recyclable.
After 50 cycles of use, it retains 75 percent of its original capacity, and after 100 cycles, it still maintains 50 percent, making it suitable for repeated industrial applications.
Eshaghi Gorji emphasized that the compound is also non-toxic and cost-effective, as none of its components are expensive to produce.
The most promising base identified was 1,5,7-triazabicyclo [4.3.0] non-6-ene (TBN), developed in Professor Ilkka Kilpeläinen’s group, which was combined with benzyl alcohol to produce the final compound.
Following laboratory success, researchers plan to test the compound at near-industrial scale in pilot plants.
For large-scale application, a solid version of the liquid compound will be developed, and efforts are underway to bind it to materials such as silica and graphene oxide to enhance its carbon dioxide absorption.
The study, titled “Direct Air Capture: Recyclability and Exceptional CO2 Uptake Using a Superbase,” was published in Environmental Science & Technology, Volume 59, in December 2025.
This discovery offers a promising, sustainable solution for capturing carbon dioxide efficiently while supporting circular economy initiatives and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.