In various exemplary embodiments, the present disclosure provides novel water-absorbent textile-based gas-liquid-solid contactors for carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) gas separation, as well as novel methods for producing and using these materials. The water-absorbent textile-based contactors of the present invention allow aqueous liquids to penetrate and travel intimately throughout the water-absorbent textile structure. The textile structure comprises many fibers with small diameters which creates a very high surface area. When exposed to a gas, the gas will be in contact with liquid spread throughout the solid wetted textile structure, all three phases gas-liquid-solid are in intimate contact. The textile contactor itself has superior performance compared to conventional packing materials, and, when combined with biocatalysts, the performance improves even more dramatically. By incorporating a biocatalyst, the invention enables use of benign solvents that have otherwise been overlooked in conventional systems due to poor kinetics.

A gas-liquid contact packing that has high gas-liquid contact efficiency and can be formed from lightweight and inexpensive materials is obtained. Each of the belt materials 41 having gaps between yarns 46 is made of a woven or knit fabric, the woven or knit fabric is formed from composite yarns 44 including a monofilament and a wire, a combination of monofilament yarns 42 composed of one or more monofilaments and wire yarns 43 composed of one or more wires, or a combination of all or two kinds among the monofilament yarns 42, the wire yarns 43, and the composite yarns 44, each of the belt materials is formed in an accordion shape by alternately repeating mountain folds and valley folds in a direction crossing a longitudinal direction of the belt material 41, and the belt materials 41 with the accordion shape are layered.