Direct Air Capture (DAC) Patent Landscape in 2026
Writen By:
Cypris Research Team
Direct air capture has moved from demonstration to first commercial plants, and its patent landscape is distinctive because DAC is not a single technology but a set of competing capture routes, each with its own chemistry and energy profile. DAC removes carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere, where it is present at very low concentration, which makes the capture step energy-intensive and puts a premium on the materials and processes that do it efficiently. The routes divide into distinct regions of patenting: solid amine adsorption, in which amine groups grafted onto porous supports capture carbon dioxide at ambient temperature and release it with modest heat, suiting modular designs;¹ liquid alkaline absorption, in which a potassium or sodium hydroxide solution captures carbon dioxide and is regenerated through a high-temperature calcination loop, suiting large centralized plants; mineralization, which binds carbon dioxide to minerals at low cost but slow kinetics; and electrified regeneration, in which electricity rather than heat releases the captured carbon dioxide.²,³,⁴,⁵,⁶ Cutting across the routes are the sorbent and solvent chemistry, the air-contactor and module design, including structured-honeycomb contactors that lower pressure drop,⁷ the regeneration step, and sorbent durability. Because a viable plant depends on several of these layers, freedom-to-operate and white space analysis must span the routes and the layers together.
The landscape is being pulled forward by policy and by corporate demand. In the United States, the Department of Energy's Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program, funded at roughly $3.5 billion under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is standing up four commercial-scale hubs, each required to capture and store or utilize at least one million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, alongside a network of feasibility-phase projects; the South Texas hub is among those that have advanced through award negotiations.⁸ The routes sit at different stages: solid amine systems are the most widely deployed in modular form, liquid alkaline systems operate at the largest single-plant scale, mineralization offers low capital cost at slow kinetics, and electrified regeneration is a fast-moving research and development area that the literature identifies as a promising near-term direction for solid-sorbent systems, spanning Joule-heated fiber sorbents,²,³ electrochemically mediated amine regeneration,⁴ redox-based electro-swing approaches,⁵ and microwave and induction heating.⁶,⁹ Across the Cypris corpus of more than 500 million patents and scientific papers, the DAC solid-sorbent set holds on the order of 887 families and grew from about 22 in 2021 to roughly 173 in 2024, with the most active assignees led by Robert Bosch, Siemens Energy, Shell, W.L. Gore, and X Development, and the United States, Germany, and China leading on geography; 2025 and 2026 counts are partial because of the publication lag.
The strategic question is which route and layer to back, and the white space sits where energy and durability are hardest. Sorbents with high carbon dioxide capacity, fast kinetics, and long cycle life are the central materials problem, and oxidative and humidity-driven degradation of amine sorbents is a persistent, high-value target,¹,¹⁰ with in-situ vapor and steam purges among the strategies that promote regeneration and stability.¹⁰ Regeneration is the other decisive layer, because it dominates energy use, so electrified and low-temperature regeneration that can run on renewable power is a fast-moving, comparatively open area,²,³,⁴,⁵,⁶ and cost-per-tonne remains a projection subject to techno-economic modeling.¹¹ Contactor and module engineering that cuts pressure drop and capital cost,⁷ and mineralization approaches that speed up kinetics, are further distinct layers. Reading the landscape by route, material, and step, and tracking both the patents and the underlying materials research, is what separates a crowded region from an open one.
Where the DAC white space is
Durable, high-capacity sorbents. Sorbents with high capacity, fast kinetics, and resistance to oxidative and humidity-driven degradation are the central materials problem and a high-value layer.¹,¹⁰
Electrified and low-temperature regeneration. Regeneration that uses electricity or low-grade heat, spanning Joule-heated, electrochemical, electro-swing, microwave, and induction approaches, is a fast-moving, comparatively open layer.²,³,⁴,⁵,⁶,⁹
Air-contactor and module engineering. Contactor and module designs, including structured honeycombs, that cut pressure drop, energy use, and capital cost are where deployment economics are decided.⁷
Mineralization kinetics. Approaches that speed up the low-cost but slow mineralization route are a distinct, differentiated area.
System and heat integration. Integrating DAC with low-grade waste heat, renewable power, and storage or utilization is a strategically important system layer.
How AI-powered landscape and white space analysis helps
Resolving a landscape that spans several capture routes, each with its own chemistry and energy profile, requires more than keyword search. AI-powered analysis addresses this with semantic search that clusters activity by route, material, and step across varied terminology, attribution that normalizes developer and academic filers to canonical entities, and continuous monitoring that keeps pace with a policy-driven surge. Because DAC advances appear in materials and separations literature before they are patented, reading both patents and literature gives the earliest signal of where low-energy, durable systems are emerging.
Where Cypris fits
Cypris runs patent landscape and white space analysis for multi-route materials fields such as direct air capture across a corpus of more than 500 million patents and scientific papers, organized through a proprietary R&D ontology. The ontology clusters activity by route, solid amine, liquid alkaline, mineralization, and electrified regeneration, and by layer, sorbent and solvent chemistry, contactor and module, and regeneration, and normalizes developer and academic filers to canonical entities, so a team can resolve which routes and layers are crowded and which remain open as white space, and can track new entrants as the field scales. Semantic search across patents and scientific literature connects filings to the underlying materials and separations research, which is where DAC advances appear first. Cypris Q, the platform's agentic layer, lets teams run landscape and white space analysis conversationally and chain the clustering, attribution, and gap analysis, and Agentic Monitoring tracks a defined route over time and flags new patents and papers as they publish. Cypris provides enterprise API partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, and is built with enterprise-grade security. Cypris serves hundreds of enterprise customers across pharmaceuticals, chemicals, advanced materials, energy, and other regulated industries.
FAQ
What is the direct air capture patent landscape? The direct air capture patent landscape is the set of patents covering technologies that remove carbon dioxide directly from ambient air. It divides across competing routes, solid amine adsorption, liquid alkaline absorption, mineralization, and electrified regeneration, plus sorbent, contactor, and regeneration IP. Each route is a distinct region of patenting.
Why is DAC energy-intensive? DAC is energy-intensive because carbon dioxide is present in air at very low concentration, so moving large volumes of air and then releasing the captured carbon dioxide from the sorbent or solvent takes significant energy, most of it in regeneration. Reducing that energy is the central challenge. It is why sorbent and regeneration IP is so valuable.
What routes does the DAC landscape cover? The landscape covers solid amine adsorption, which suits modular designs; liquid alkaline absorption, which suits large centralized plants; mineralization, which is low-cost but slow; and electrified regeneration, an emerging area. Each has distinct chemistry, energy needs, and maturity. Freedom-to-operate and white space analysis must treat them separately.
How large is the US DAC hubs program? The US Department of Energy's Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program is funded at roughly $3.5 billion under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and is standing up four commercial-scale hubs, each required to capture and store or utilize at least one million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. The South Texas hub is among those in award negotiations. It is the largest public DAC funding to date.
Where is the white space in DAC? The white space includes durable, high-capacity sorbents, electrified and low-temperature regeneration, air-contactor and module engineering, mineralization kinetics, and system and heat integration. The most deployed solid amine and liquid alkaline grounds are comparatively crowded. The most open, high-value opportunities are in sorbent durability and low-energy regeneration.
Why is regeneration such an important layer? Regeneration is important because releasing the captured carbon dioxide from the sorbent or solvent dominates a DAC plant's energy use and cost. Approaches that regenerate at lower temperature or with electricity, and can run on renewable power, directly improve economics and carbon balance. That makes regeneration a decisive, actively patented layer.
What software helps analyze the direct air capture patent landscape? Software for the DAC landscape should cluster activity by route and process layer, resolve developer and academic filers to canonical owners, search patents and scientific literature semantically, and monitor a policy-driven field continuously. Cypris does this across more than 500 million patents and scientific papers using a proprietary R&D ontology, semantic search, Cypris Q, and Agentic Monitoring.
Which teams use direct air capture patent landscape analysis? Direct air capture patent landscape analysis is used by R&D, innovation, IP, and strategy teams at carbon-removal, materials, chemicals, and energy companies, and their partners, as well as investors and policymakers. It informs which route to back, where to file, and where competitors are concentrated. Cypris serves hundreds of enterprise customers across advanced materials, energy, chemicals, and other regulated industries.
Endnotes
- Sun, X., et al. (2023). Chemisorption and regeneration of amine-based CO2 sorbents in direct air capture. Materials Today Sustainability, 22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtsust.2023.100453
- Realff, M. J., Jones, C. W., Lively, R. P., et al. (2023). Sorbent-coated carbon fibers for direct air capture using electrically driven temperature swing adsorption. Joule, 7(7). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2023.05.016
- Park, H., et al. (2025). Design of electrified fiber sorbents for direct air capture with electrically driven temperature-vacuum-swing adsorption. Advanced Materials, 37. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202504542
- Stern, M. C., & Hatton, T. A. (2013). Bench-scale demonstration of CO2 capture with electrochemically mediated amine regeneration (EMAR). RSC Advances, 3. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ra46774k
- Kim, S., Kang, J. S., & Hatton, T. A. (2021). Redox-responsive sorbents and mediators for electrochemically based CO2 capture. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2021.100504
- van der Wal, K., van Schagen, T. N., & Brilman, D. W. F. (2021). Through-flow microwave-based regenerator for sorbent-based direct air capture. Chemical Engineering Journal Advances, 8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceja.2021.100187
- Boger, T., et al. (2026). Steam-based vacuum-temperature-swing adsorption with honeycomb amine sorbents for direct air capture. Carbon Capture Science & Technology, 20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccst.2026.100654
- U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs. https://www.energy.gov/oced/regional-direct-air-capture-hubs
- Thompson, S., et al. (2024). Magnetic-nanoparticle-induced sorbent regeneration for direct air capture. AIChE Journal, 70. https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18500
- Webley, P. A., Li, S., Hu, X., et al. (2026). Promoting regeneration of PEI-impregnated sorbents through in-situ vapor purge for direct air capture. AIChE Journal, 72. https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.70571
- Pirngruber, G. D., et al. (2013). Theoretical analysis of energy consumption of TSA post-combustion capture with solid sorbents. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.01.010
