Direct Air Capture

Direct air capture is the use of chemical or physical processes to pull carbon dioxide directly out of the ambient air, in three stages: fans move air across a liquid solvent or solid sorbent that binds the carbon dioxide, and heat is then applied to release a pure carbon dioxide stream so the solvent or sorbent can be reused; when the captured carbon dioxide is stored permanently the process is called DACCS and counts as a negative emissions technology. The idea was first proposed in 1999 and several commercial plants are now planned or operating in Europe and the United States, led by the Climeworks Mammoth facility in Iceland, the largest operating plant, which can remove 36,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year at a cost of about 1,000 dollars per tonne; by the end of 2024 roughly 53 direct air capture plants were expected to be operating worldwide. Current costs exceed 1,000 dollars per tonne, well above the price carbon trades at, though projections, disputed by some, suggest costs could fall to 94 to 232 dollars per tonne once plants reach a scale of a million tonnes a year.