With momentum building in the carbon removal sector – and all eyes on the anticipated impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act – we’re seeing the world dive deeper into the different ways Direct Air Capture (DAC) can help build a net zero future.

At a glance, there are two main DAC pathways – using a sorbent (i.e., solid) capture material versus using a solvent (i.e., liquid). Nearly a decade-and-a-half ago, Carbon Engineering (CE) made the decision to pursue a liquid solvent approach. Today, one of our most frequently asked questions is: Why liquid?

We’re pleased to see a number of new assessments released by the scientific community over the last year that help evaluate the different DAC technologies. Each brings improved methodology and a greater level of comprehension to compare various approaches. Read about these reports below:

1.  Global Assessment of Direct Air Capture Costs

International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG)
DECEMBER 2021

About this report:
This study aims to improve the current Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) cost-performance evidence base by synthesising data from recent literature and technology developers to explore the economic feasibility of different DACCS technologies (both liquid and solid based systems).

From report conclusion:
“For liquid systems, large-scale plants are significantly more cost-effective due to economies of scale. Solid DACCS costs scale more linearly with size and are likely to be the more cost-effective option for smaller plants (<100ktCO₂/year), with significant potential for cost reduction through innovation. Capex, electricity prices and solid adsorbent costs are found to be the most influential parameters on costs.”

Read the full report here.

2. Direct Air Capture Case Studies

National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL),
Department of Energy (DOE)

3. The cost of direct air capture and storage; the impact of technological learning, regional diversity, and policy

John Young et al., Research Centre for Carbon Solutions, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
JULY 2022

About this report:
This report aims to answer the question “where are the costs of direct air capture and storage heading, and what influence does siting and policy have?” by estimating ranges for the current and future costs of 2 liquid and 2 solid sorbent direct air capture processes paired with CO₂ transport and storage:

Liquids based:
1.   KOH-Ca looping: Capture using a circulating potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution with sorbent regeneration via ion exchange and calcination. CE uses this liquid solvent-based process*.
2.   KOH BPMED: Capture using a circulating potassium hydroxide solution with sorbent regeneration via bipolar membrane electrodialysis.

Solids based:
3.   Solid Sorbent: Capture using a stationary solid sorbent with cyclic temperature-vacuum swing sorbent regeneration.
4.   MgO ambient weathering: Capture using circulating magnesium oxide (MgO) solids sorbent regeneration via calcination.

From report conclusion:
“For a plant in the United States paired to wind electricity and a heat-pump for low-grade heat where applicable, these first-of-a-kind (FOAK) net removed costs were estimated as i) $230-580 t-CO₂^-1 for KOH-Ca looping*, ii) $690-1230 t-CO₂^-1 for KOH BPMED, iii) $1250-3000 t-CO₂^-1 for solid sorbent, and iv) $260-760 t-CO₂^-1 for MgO ambient weathering.

However, technological learning will drive down the costs as a function of repetition and learning by doing, to an average of several 100’s of dollars per tonne CO₂ net removed. Using technology learning curves, our study forecasted that the costs may reduce, at the Gt-CO₂ year^-1 scale for a plant in the United States paired to wind electricity and a heat-pump for low-grade heat where applicable, to i) $80-410 t-CO₂ ^-1 for KOH-Ca looping*, ii) $240-780 t-CO₂ -1 for KOH BPMED, iii) $100-590 t-CO₂^-1 for solid sorbent, and iv) $80-520 t-CO₂^-1 for MgO ambient weathering.”

Read the full report here.

SQUAMISH, British Columbia (October 31, 2022) — Today, Carbon Engineering (CE) announced it has begun front-end planning and engineering for Direct Air Capture (DAC) facilities at a second site in the U.S., in Kleberg County, Texas. The site is expected to provide access for the potential construction of multiple DAC facilities that would be capable of collectively removing up to 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually for dedicated sequestration.

CE has been contracted by its U.S. development partner, 1PointFive, for the front-end planning and engineering of a one-megatonne DAC facility that is intended to be replicated into multi-million tonne deployments. The design is being adapted from the first large-scale, commercial facility to use CE’s DAC technology, which is already under construction in the Texas Permian Basin, and is anticipated to form the basis of accelerated large-scale deployments in the U.S.

These additional DAC facilities will be located in the Gulf Coast region, which provides another site with ideal pore space for dedicated sequestration. At this location, the DAC facilities will be paired with standalone geologic sequestration to deliver secure and verifiable carbon dioxide removal. This provides a cost-effective solution that hard-to-decarbonize industries can combine with emissions reduction programs to achieve true net zero.

Using its recently-announced deployment approach to enable global build-out of plants, CE is performing this work at an accelerated pace. CE expects to complete this work roughly 50 per cent faster than earlier projects. Once complete, CE will have produced the required materials to be ready to replicate megatonne DAC trains within multi-megatonne facilities.

“This work brings together all our progress from the past months to get us ready for major deployment in the U.S.,” said Daniel Friedmann, CE’s CEO. “Working hand in hand with our partners at Occidental and 1PointFive, we’ve been focused on building an accelerated deployment approach, while simultaneously beginning construction of the first, large-scale commercial facility in Texas. Now, with this ‘copy and paste’ megatonne DAC facility, we’re working towards widespread, multi-million tonne deployments across the U.S.”

From its dedicated technology development and Innovation Centre in British Columbia, Canada, CE is also continuously improving its DAC technology. CE is currently testing an improved capture material at the centre and expects to validate this development for commercial rollout by the end of the year. Initial tests indicate this new material could produce an approximately 20 percent improvement in capture efficiency, which could result in further energy and cost savings for commercial facilities.

“The Innovation Centre has been instrumental in validating technology improvements at scale,” said Scott Willis, CE’s VP of Technology and Engineering. “The centre is designed to provide our scientists, engineers and technicians with an environment where they can continuously test and prove technology advancements which can be placed into commercial plant designs. It operates on a ‘run-replace-run’ philosophy, validating commercial operation over extended periods and continuously improving our future plants.”

This announcement follows the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act into law, which includes increased incentives for U.S. DAC projects. This important piece of legislation is a key enabler for the acceleration of DAC projects across the U.S. and sets a strong precedent for meaningful climate action on the global stage.

More information on the site and land lease agreement can be found in Occidental’s news release here.

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Pictured: New capture material lined up outside the Carbon Engineering Innovation Centre for installation – now installed.

About Carbon Engineering:
Carbon Engineering (CE) is a climate solutions company. CE is focused on the global deployment of large-scale Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology that captures carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere so it can be permanently stored deep underground or used to produce clean, affordable transportation fuels. With its partners, CE is working to deploy large-scale, commercial DAC facilities in multiple markets around the globe. More at carbonengineering.com.

• £249,000 funding awarded to Storegga’s Dreamcatcher Project under the BEIS programme – Direct Air Capture and Greenhouse Gas Removal Technology Innovation Programme Award
• In partnership with Carbon Engineering this project is a key next step towards deployment of UK’s first large-scale facility that removes carbon dioxide directly from the air

LONDON, 24 May 2021: Storegga, through its wholly owned subsidiary Pale Blue Dot Energy, is pleased to announce it has been awarded a £249,000 grant by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for a development project in Direct Air Capture (DAC) – a technology that captures carbon dioxide (CO₂) directly out of the atmosphere. In partnership with leading DAC provider Carbon Engineering (CE), Storegga’s Dreamcatcher Project is a key next step towards the partners’ ambitions to deploy UK’s first large-scale DAC with Storage (DACS) facility. These types of greenhouse gas removal projects will create and sustain tens of thousands of green UK jobs and businesses and can help accelerate Scottish and UK efforts to reach net zero emissions by compensating for sectors of the economy that are challenging to decarbonise directly.

From a pilot facility in British Columbia, Canada, CE developed and demonstrated its DAC technology and has been capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere since 2015. CE is now deploying the technology at large-scale in the United States. The development funded by this grant will focus on optimisation and UK deployment of this proven solution. Specifically, Storegga and CE will utilise the funds to research and develop new, ultra-low-carbon energy sources to power the DAC technology. They will also collaborate on the identification and development of a UK supply chain and roadmap to deploy DAC technology in the UK at a cost of potentially less than £200 per tonne of CO₂ in the 2020s.

Project Dreamcatcher is a key step towards Storegga and CE’s ambitions to build a large-scale DAC plant in the UK within the next five years. The proposed large-scale DAC facility will capture between 500,000 and one million tonnes of atmospheric CO₂ each year and then safely and permanently store it deep below the seabed in an offshore geological storage site. One of the locations being considered by the partnership for this facility is in North East Scotland, with access to the Acorn CCS and Hydrogen Project (Acorn).

Acorn is one of the most mature UK CCS and hydrogen projects and is positioned to be the most cost-effective and scalable CCS project in the UK. The Acorn project is currently in the detailed engineering and design phase of development and is planned to be operational by the mid 2020’s. DAC, CCS and hydrogen technologies are complementary solutions that provide key tools for the UK to meet its net zero targets.

DAC technology, when combined with secure geological CO₂ storage, delivers the permanent and verifiable removal of CO₂ from the air. This form of greenhouse gas removal has the ability to play a key role in the rapid decarbonisation of high-emitting, difficult-to-decarbonise industrial sectors, such as aviation, shipping, agriculture, and oil and gas. It also provides a reliable way to remove CO₂ emissions from the past, making it a tool to support not only net zero targets, but also ambitions to achieve net negative emissions and full climate restoration. DAC technology is highly scalable, cost-competitive and can eliminate any CO₂ emission at a known cost. This flexibility will be critical as the UK seeks to achieve carbon neutrality while continuing to protect and grow the economy.

The Dreamcatcher Project is a collaborative initiative with project partners including Pale Blue Dot Energy, Carbon Engineering, Petrofac, Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities and Virgin Group.

Nick Cooper, CEO Storegga, said: “We are pleased to have been awarded funding under the Direct Air Capture and Greenhouse Gas Removal Technology Innovation Programme Award which will enable Storegga and our project partners to advance the development of the UK, and Europe’s first large scale DAC facility.

“The world needs to remove large quantities of CO₂ from the atmosphere to meet the Paris Goals. DAC is a profoundly important tool for this: offering permanent, verifiable carbon removal for both current emitters and for legacy CO₂ emissions.”

Amy Ruddock, VP Europe Carbon Engineering, said: “At Carbon Engineering, we’ve spent the past decade developing a highly scalable and affordable Direct Air Capture solution so it can play a mainstream role in addressing climate change. As the UK, and nations around the world, create plans to reach net zero emissions, DAC is a feasible, available, and affordable tool that can be added to the net zero toolkit. It is a tool that has the potential to realise significant greenhouse gas reductions while creating thousands of local jobs and businesses. We’re pleased to see the UK Government investing in this critical solution and are grateful for this support from BEIS as we work with our partner, Storegga, to deploy DAC in the UK.”

UK Government press release: £166 million cash injection for Green Technology and 60,000 UK jobs

• The service allows customers to reserve capacity from a Carbon Engineering Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility – providing the permanent removal of carbon emissions on their behalf
• Shopify is the first customer, reserving 10,000 tonnes of carbon removal capacity – the largest publicly-announced corporate purchase of DAC-based carbon removal to date

SQUAMISH, British Columbia (Tuesday, March 9, 2021) – A new carbon dioxide removal service has been launched today by Carbon Engineering (CE) that allows customers to purchase the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using CE’s large-scale DAC technology. Shopify, a leading global commerce company, has signed on as the first customer for the service, reserving 10,000 tonnes of permanent carbon removal capacity from a large-scale DAC project. The carbon dioxide removal will be achieved through CE’s plant development partner, 1PointFive – the US development company currently engineering CE’s first industrial-scale facility that is expected to be operational in 2024.

Shopify’s significant commitment – the largest publicly-announced corporate purchase of DAC-based carbon removal – reflects a growing awareness of the need to include large-scale carbon dioxide removal as part of the climate solution. DAC removes carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere, enabling it to be permanently, securely and measurably put back underground. This process entirely reverses any carbon dioxide emission, providing a solution for hard-to-decarbonize industries and processes, as well as providing customers with a reliable way to remove their emissions from the past.

“Carbon Engineering’s mission has always been to deliver a highly scalable and affordable solution for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” said CE CEO, Steve Oldham. “We’re on the brink of large-scale deployment of our technology and the next critical step is accumulating market interest and securing customers. This new service allows us to do that. It also makes it easy for companies and governments to include permanent carbon removal in their net-zero plans. We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with Shopify and welcome them as our first carbon removal customer, and we look forward to supporting others so we can collectively make large-scale carbon removal a reality.”

CE’s new service allows customers to purchase carbon removal units in quantities as small as 100 units. Each unit represents one metric tonne of carbon dioxide captured and permanently removed from the atmosphere, offsetting emissions from the past, the present day, or the future. Customers pre-pay a deposit for their carbon removal units, with the remainder due only once the carbon dioxide has been physically removed and independently verified. Customers will receive discounts for purchasing higher volumes.

“DAC combined with permanent storage, through standalone sequestration, will play a critical role in reversing climate change,” said Stacy Kauk, Director of Shopify’s Sustainability Fund. “Shopify is on a mission to make commerce better for everyone, and to help make a low-carbon future a reality. We’re Carbon Engineering’s first customer because we recognize the need to go beyond emissions reductions. Our commitment to this new carbon dioxide removal service is not powerful enough on its own—we need others to join Shopify’s efforts, in any capacity, to catalyze this frontier large-scale DAC technology.”

Carbon removal unit purchases will be fulfilled by large-scale DAC facilities that will be deployed by CE’s development partner 1PointFive. In the US, 1PointFive is already underway with its first industrial-scale DAC plant. CE also has a partnership with Pale Blue Dot Energy to deploy DAC in the UK. Projects will deliver permanent carbon removal by pairing CE’s large-scale DAC technology with secure geological storage of the carbon dioxide. The projects will adhere to stringent permanence standards with the end-to-end lifecycle analysis monitored, reported, and verified. Customers will receive full transparency so they can unambiguously verify the environmental benefit of their purchase.

“We welcome this news and applaud Shopify on their climate leadership position,” said 1PointFive Chairman Richard Jackson. “Alongside climate experts like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we recognize that permanent carbon removal is going to be necessary to achieve our vision of a sustainable low-carbon world. 1PointFive looks forward to bringing large-scale carbon removal capability based on CE’s technology to the market, helping customers worldwide to achieve their climate goals.”

To learn how you can reserve carbon removal units, please get in touch at: carbonengineering.com/contact-us.

Industry Quotes:

Noah Deich, President and Co-founder, Carbon180: “Early customers for direct air capture (DAC) — especially companies with ambitious climate goals — can have outsized impact today: not only does procuring DAC services enable companies to hit “net-zero” pledges faster, but it helps DAC technology come down the “learning curve,” driving cost reductions and making DAC services more affordable and accessible for a wider customer base in the future. I’m very excited to see Carbon Engineering announce a way for early corporate leaders — and hopefully a wave of fast followers — to devote more of their climate spend towards DAC.”

Michael Bernstein, Executive Director, Clean Prosperity: “Carbon dioxide removal technologies like that offered by Carbon Engineering are a critical piece of the effort to address climate change. We need big investments in carbon removal and we need them fast. Carbon Engineering’s new carbon dioxide removal service is an innovative way to accelerate this market, enabling at-scale build-out of direct-air-capture. The fact that the deal being announced today is between two Canadian companies is a clear signal that Canada can be a global leader in the carbon capture and removal industry.”

Dr Shaun Fitzgerald FREng, Director, Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge: “The creation of a financial instrument which helps investment now in order to accelerate DAC technology deployment is an important move. We need to scale up carbon dioxide removal globally so that we can start to bring greenhouse gas levels down. We need to undo the damage we have reaped through our historic emissions, as well as help balance the ongoing emissions which are going to be very difficult to avoid such as from agriculture. A portfolio of approaches is needed and it is great to see a company not just tackling the technology challenges but also devising ways to bring in customers now to help with the finance.”

Construction of Carbon Engineering’s Innovation Centre has progressed swiftly throughout the winter. This centre will be Carbon Engineering’s permanent headquarters and advanced development facility where the team will optimize and improve our technologies. We are pleased to provide an update, plus photos and a video showing the facility’s progress.

The Innovation Centre is nearby to Carbon Engineering’s pilot facility, top right in the above image.

In December, we shared progress on the earthworks and concrete activities that laid the foundation for the facility, as well as the pellet reactor installation and initial work on the air contactor, far right in the below image. Since this last update, the site has continued to progress rapidly, with January and February seeing all but one of the major pieces of equipment for our Direct Air Capture process installed.

The Innovation Centre administration building, left in the above image, is also well underway, with the structure now erected and partially clad. This 1250m² building will be home to Carbon Engineering’s advanced development and plant operations, and will include a reception, offices, meeting rooms, drop spaces, a laboratory, a first aid room, and a control room. It will also house a large shop space for plant support and maintenance activities.

The last piece of major equipment to be installed will be the calciner, which will arrive on site in May. The calciner is where CO₂-rich pellets produced in the pellet reactor are heated to 900°C to release the CO₂ in pure gas form.

Stay tuned to our website and social media channels for more updates, and make sure to join our newsletter here.