At Carbon Engineering, we’ve been working on Direct Air Capture of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) for almost 12 years. Our technology is capable of deploying at large scale to capture megatons of CO2 directly out of the air at each facility. When combined with long-lived CO2 storage solutions, this offers a way to remove excess atmospheric carbon and store it safely for millennia, all with very low land and water use.
Assessments on how to avoid the worst impacts of climate change — including those from the IPCC and the National Academy of Sciences — conclude that limiting global warming to 1.5◦C will require gigatons of carbon dioxide removal. If we are to achieve these targets without massive land and water impacts, we’re going to need systems like Direct Air Capture that can pull climate-relevant quantities of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
But capturing CO2 from the air only gets us halfway there. To deliver carbon dioxide removal, Direct Air Capture must be paired with solutions that store the atmospheric CO2 safely and securely for the long-term. Additionally, for the world to achieve gigatons of carbon removal within the timeframe needed, a whole ecosystem of CO2 capture and storage options is going to be required.
That’s why, in partnership with Shopify, we’ve recognized an opportunity to grow the carbon removal ecosystem here in the Pacific Northwest. At our Innovation Centre, which is currently under construction and due to be operational later this year, we will capture and purify atmospheric CO2 as we continue to refine and improve our technology. With help from Shopify, we will make that CO2 available for potential storage providers to test their approaches and will pay for its storage.
Through a request for information (RFI) process, we are looking for companies to take the CO2 captured at the Innovation Centre and store it long-term. We welcome submissions from a variety of long-lived storage methodologies, including CO2 mineralization, storage in products, and innovative new forms of geologic storage. Innovators should be ready to accept and store CO2 starting in 2022, and are ideally located in the Pacific Northwest or other regions close to Squamish, B.C.
Figure 1: A selection of CO2 utilization pathways. Source: Pembina Institute
Our hope is to foster supportive and cooperative relationships and expand the network of companies in our region that are working towards long-term storage of CO2. Ideally, this will draw attention to the many players and approaches that will be needed to deliver carbon dioxide removal at climate-relevant scale in the coming years, and will foster connections between existing carbon removal leaders like Carbon Engineering and Shopify, and CO2 storage providers.
Get in touch to apply:
For more information on this RFI, please submit an expression of interest that includes a profile of your company (max 300 words) and contact details to business@carbonengineering.com with the subject line “CO2 Storage RFI” by April 15, 2021.
