Novel mesocellular silica foam functionalized with atorvastatin (MCF-AT) was synthesized and applied to overcome the mass transfer limitation in carbon dioxide absorption by rotating packed bed (RPB). The MCF-AT with high order pore distribution and regular rod morphology material was dispersed in monoethanolamine (MEA) by ultrasonic dispersion method without any surfactant addition. Structural and chemical properties of MCF-AT were characterized by low angle XRD, FE-SEM, FTIR, BET and BJH analysis. The effect of operational parameters such as the gas and solution flow rate, MCF-AT dosage and rotational speed have been investigated and optimized by central composite design (CCD) combined with desirability function (DF) method. The maximum achieved carbon dioxide absorption percentage was 99.46% at condition which set at 15 L min(-1) gas flow rate, 0.2 L min(-1) solution flow rate, 0.15 g MCF-AT and 800 rpm rotational speed. Results indicated that using MEA solution in absence of MCF-AT has ability to 76.96% CO2 capture percentage which significantly improved following addition of MCF-AT to MEA solution due to the availability of appropriate pores and reactive functional groups which have more tendency for trapping and/or binding CO2. (C) 2017 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.