The world’s first commercial plant that aims to extract CO2 carbon dioxide from the planet’s air at industrial scale opened recently for business near Zurich in Switzerland.
Climeworks‘ so-called “Direct Air Capture (DAC)” plant sits in the farming village of Hinwil, about 29 kilometers from Zurich.
A machine sits on top of a waste heat recovery facility that powers the device. Fans push air through a filter system which isolates the CO2 at a temperature of about 100 degrees Celsius.
Why This MattersA Giant CO2 Vacuum
This past March, global levels of CO2 passed 400 parts per million, a first since record-keeping began, say scientists who have been monitoring CO2 levels in the planet’s atmosphere.
High CO2 levels have been associated with the deadly effects of climate change in the form of rising seas, monster storms, wildfires and extreme weather like Pakistan’s heat in the previous post. Passing 400 ppm is an ominous sign of what might come next.
The ambitious project aims to pipe the collected gas to a nearby greenhouse to grow crops and also plans to sell it to willing buyers.
Climeworks last closed a Series B for $3.42 million with Zurcher National Bank in April 2014.
Climeworks Announcement
Founded by engineers, Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks developed its technology to capture atmospheric carbon with a filter, using mainly low-grade heat as an energy source. In Hinwil the DAC plant has been installed on the roof of a waste recovery facility – operated by the municipal administration union KEZO – with its waste heat powering the Climeworks DAC plant.
“Highly scalable negative emission technologies are crucial if we are to stay below the two degree target of the international community,” says Christoph Gebald, co-founder and managing director of Climeworks. “The DAC-technology provides distinct advantages to achieve this aim and is perfectly suitable to be combined with underground storage. We’re working hard to reach the goal of filtering one per cent of global CO2 emissions by 2025. To achieve this, we estimate around 250,000 DAC-plants like the one in Hinwil are necessary.”
The CO2 captured by Climeworks can be used to carbonate beverages or produce climateneutral fuels and other materials. Capturing CO2 locally for industrial uses enables customers to reduce their emissions and lessen their dependence on fossil fuels, as currently most industrial CO2 is transported from fossil point sources via truck to industries on site. In comparison to other carbon capture technologies, a modular Climeworks plant can be employed almost anywhere.
In coming months Climeworks plans to launch additional commercial pilot projects in key target markets and wants to test its technology’s potential to deliver negative emissions by combining it with underground storage.
“With the energy and economic data from the plant we can make reliable calculations for other, larger projects and draw on the practical experience we have gained.” says Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks co-founder and managing director.
Sources: Climeworks, 350.org, Crunchbase
