The world's largest direct air capture (DAC) factory "Mammoth" was opened in Iceland on the 8th. It can remove 36,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year, which is equivalent to reducing the carbon emissions of 8,600 cars. Compared with the current largest factory of the same type, it is eight times larger.
It is not easy to increase production capacity and reduce costs
In 2021, Swiss startup Climeworks launched the direct air capture factory "Orca". The Oka factory is located in Iceland and can capture 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. The captured carbon dioxide was handed over to Icelandic partner Carbfix for carbon storage. At that time, it was the world's largest direct air capture and storage (DAC+S) plant.
"Oka" comes from the Icelandic orka, which means "energy". Shortly after the opening of the Oka plant, Climeworks immediately began construction of the Mengma plant and completed it within two years. The Mengma plant can capture 36,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, nine times that of the Ouka plant.
Slowing down carbon emissions will not help, and many experts are pinning their hopes on carbon-negative technologies. The commonly heard term "carbon capture" is to separate, compress, and then store carbon dioxide emitted from thermal power plants and factories; "direct air capture" is to intercept carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Foreign media use "giant air purifiers" and " Carbon dioxide vacuum cleaner" description.
The Guardian explained that the factory first uses powerful fans to suck air into the collector, and then uses alkaline filters to absorb carbon dioxide. Once the filter is filled with carbon dioxide, the collector will close and the carbon dioxide will be removed by heating. The carbon dioxide is then mixed with water and injected into the ground 1,000 meters deep. After a long period of chemical reaction with basalt, it can be mineralized into rock.
The Mengma plant has a total of 72 collectors, 12 of which were completed in May and started direct air capture. This technology is very energy-intensive, and the energy required is provided by another Icelandic partner, geothermal energy company ON Power.
Climeworks Direct Air Capture Factory Mammoth opens in May. Image source: Climeworks
Advantages of DAC: Easy to verify and calculate carbon reduction benefits
Based on the successful experience of these two factories, Climeworks continues its construction plan, aiming to achieve a total production capacity of one million tons by 2030. Company co-founder and co-CEO Christoph Gebald told Bloomberg that the cost of the Mammoth plant is only slightly lower than that of Oka, and the cost of capturing one ton of carbon dioxide is about US$1,000 (approximately NT$32,000). . He hopes it can drop to US$200-300 per ton in 2040 and US$100 per ton in 2050.
Energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie pointed out that although afforestation can reduce carbon emissions, its carbon reduction benefits and verification are highly controversial. Direct air capture has three advantages: durability, scalability and additivity. The top priority is to reduce costs. However, this technology is very energy-consuming and it is still difficult to reduce costs.
The small amount of land required for direct air capture is also an advantage, according to David Webb, chief executive of the Boston Consulting Group. Taking the rapid decline in solar photovoltaic costs as an example, in order to reduce the cost of direct air capture, it is not only necessary to expand production capacity, government incentives, and increase investment, but also to accelerate the learning curve.
References:
*REUTERS (2024.5.9), Climeworks opens world's largest plant to extract CO2 from air in Iceland
*Bloomberg (2024.5.8), The World's Biggest Carbon Removal Plant Comes Online in Iceland
*Washington (2024.5.9), The world's largest carbon-capture plant just switched on
*Wood Mackenzie (2024.1.18), Low-carbon tech: can direct air capture rise to the challenge? DAC could get the energy transition on track
*World Economic Forum (2023.8.9), Achieving net zero: Why costs of direct air capture need to drop for large-scale adoption
*Climeworks, Mammoth: what it takes to manufacture direct air capture plants at new scales
*Climeworks, Mammoth: our newest facility
*Climeworks, Orca: the first large-scale plant
*The Guardian (2021.9.9), World's biggest machine capturing carbon from air turned on in Iceland
*Taiwan Sustainability Hub (2021.10.8), From Net Zero to Carbon Negative – The Prospects and Challenges of Carbon Removal Technology
Source:
Environmental Information Center
