The US dream of a CO2 vacuum cleaner for the climate

In Germany Direct Air Capture was not an issue for a long time. Now the federal government is rethinking, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is working on funding. In other countries, the technology has long been considered indispensable for slowing down global warming.

In the USA things are getting down to business. Occidental is not only allowed to sell CO2 certificates, but also to press oil and natural gas out of the shale with the gas – fracking. Star investor Buffett was so convinced of this strategy that he secured 20 percent of Occidental shares. Carbon Engineering’s investors include Bill Gates as well as the oil company Chevron.

The process has advantages: the technology does not filter out the greenhouse gas directly at the emission sources, it can be used anywhere. In addition to being stored and used as a raw material in cement or plastic, the CO2 can also be processed into fuel.

But there is criticism of the process of CO2 separation and storage, whether from the atmosphere or industrial chimneys. “It just doesn’t pay off. It’s ridiculous,” says energy expert and futurologist Jeremy Rifkin about the storage of CO2 to the Handelsblatt. “The EU has invested a lot of money in the past to research this and it hasn’t worked.” It would be better to go other ways to slow down global warming.

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Jonathan Elkind from the Center for Energy Policy at the renowned Columbia University sees things differently. “There’s no doubt that CO2 can be stored, and I think we need to use every tool to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” he says. “We no longer have time to discuss whether it is morally justifiable if those who caused the emissions are now also allowed to store them.”

Elkind also takes into account the high cost factor of direct air capture. “On the other hand, if the alternatives are global warming, crop losses and mass immigration, the price is relative,” he notes.

The greenhouse gas helps with fracking

Occidental is investing a billion dollars in the new facility. Carbon Engineering developed the technology for the suction in 13 years of research work. Inside the facility, fans 8.5 meters in diameter draw in air that is drawn through a plastic structure containing potassium hydroxide solution. This binds the CO2, which is pressed into small pellets in a concentrated form using chemical processes. By heating, the CO2 can be released again as a raw material.

The system can filter 500,000 tons of CO2 per year after completion, if necessary, an expansion can even double the output. The plant is located in the US state of Texas, where Occidental is already using CO2 to extract oil from the shale rock.

But most of the CO2 should be stored. For Occidental and its CEO, Vicky Hollub, the new direct air capture facility is part of a long-term strategy to transform the oil company into a carbon management company.

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Exxon CEO Darren Woods also believes in the technology: “Direct Air Capture would be the Holy Grail, the possibility of taking CO2 directly out of the atmosphere,” he explained in an interview with the Handelsblatt in the summer.

Woods shares the criticism that the technology is still too expensive. But if the costs could be reduced, the Exxon boss believes the process would also be ideal from the perspective of the oil industry: “If you could scale it, then we wouldn’t have to change an entire industrial complex, an entire energy system.”

Save unavoidable emissions

Just suck off CO2 and leave the rest of our energy and economic system as it is? “Woods didn’t calculate correctly,” says the CEO of the start-up Carbon Engineering, Daniel Friedmann. Direct Air Capture can only be part of the solution to save the climate. “We have to convert our energy system worldwide to clean energy,” he clarifies. “What is left over and cannot be decarbonized, we want to filter out of the air with Direct Air Capture.”

Around 50 billion tons of CO2 emissions are currently produced annually, 40 billion tons of which can be saved through clean energies. But ten billion tons remained, Friedmann calculates. That’s what it’s about. “And of course about the emissions that are already in the atmosphere today. That’s the fascinating thing about this technology,” he enthuses. You can remove the legacies.

According to Carbon Engineering, it currently costs $400 to $500 to remove a ton of CO2 from the air. The goal is to bring the price down to $100 in the long term. One help is the promotion of the new technology in the USA: The Biden government grants 180 dollars per ton in the form of tax breaks.

The business model of DAC providers such as 1Point Five is based on the fact that there will be functioning emissions trading in the future and that companies will buy CO2 certificates. According to 1Point Five, Airbus has already done this and secured CO2 certificates for 400,000 tons extracted. The manufacturer could then resell these certificates to airlines such as Lufthansa. According to the company, 1Point Five’s customers also include Shopify and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

According to geologists, storing CO2 is safe

In Germany there are many fears that the stored CO2 can escape again or that earthquakes can occur, similar to fracking.

Scott Quillinan from the University of Wyoming is also dealing with these topics. Since 2008, he has been researching the geological conditions that must be met in order to safely store carbon dioxide. The university also works with partners in Great Britain and Switzerland. In Wyoming, Quillinan is working on the Carbon Safe project to make an old coal-fired power plant emissions-free thanks to CO2 storage.

The geologist explains that the CO2 is not stored in any underground caverns, but in small spaces in porous rock. “Think of it as pouring a liquid into a jar of marbles,” explains Quillinan.

The CO2 is introduced in liquid form and usually displaces salt water. As long as CO2 is stored at a depth of more than a kilometer, it remains liquid and cannot simply escape, the geologist assures. Over the years, the CO2 can also mineralize and harden.

“It’s important that it’s only stored where there’s also a hard, non-porous layer of rock that prevents it from escaping like a lid,” explains Quillinan. These geological formations are particularly found where natural gas or oil have previously been mined.

Quillinan takes the fear of earthquakes seriously. “But the danger only exists if you inject the CO2 too quickly,” he explains. In contrast to fracking, CO2 storage does not destroy the rock. “Fracking uses small particles, we don’t do that because we’re looking for rocks that are already porous.” And says: “I don’t see how the decarbonization of the world should work without CO2 storage.”

“The emissions are everywhere in the world in three days anyway”

Carbon Engineering CEO Friedmann praises the flexibility of the DAC in particular: “Take Volkswagen, for example,” he says. A car manufacturer like VW would not have to place the system next to its factories. “The emissions are everywhere in the world in three days anyway. We can simply build the systems where there is a lot of land, the right soil and low prices,” explains Friedmann. VW could then purchase CO2 certificates.

The European head of Carbon Engineering, Amy Ruddock, notices that the Germans are particularly critical of the whole issue. “The discussion about storage is mainly being conducted in Germany.” In Great Britain and Norway, people are much more open to this.

The company is currently building two plants there, which are scheduled to go into operation at the end of the decade. “Germany could play a much bigger role in the whole direct air capture value chain,” says Ruddock. But for that to happen, acceptance has to grow first.

Technology pays off in production, for example in chemistry

According to Natalia Luna, the responsible investing analyst at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, political support for carbon capture and storage will continue to grow. She believes the use of the technology will soon pay off thanks to research, rising carbon prices and tax breaks for reducing emissions.

“In the production of hydrogen, cement or in chemical production, one tonne of CO2 can be neutralized for as little as 50 to 70 US dollars,” she calculates. “This means that the costs are already below the price for one tonne of CO2 emissions in the EU.” The investment expert is also convinced that the use of the technology can achieve considerable economies of scale in transport and storage.

However, the profitability of Direct Air Capture also increases with the level of CO2 concentration in the air. And then it does play a role whether the systems are right next to factory chimneys or far outside the metropolitan areas. Nevertheless, technology is able to play an increasingly important role in the fight against global warming.

More: CO2 storage is experiencing a breakthrough worldwide – Germany is still fighting back