Sucking carbon dioxide from air is cheaper than scientists thought
Carbon dioxide siphoning from the atmosphere could prove to be
more expensive than the last Dutch strategy for climate catastrophe aversion. (
You can think we are joking, but LOL, Nope ! We are not. )
On June 7th, a detailed economic analysis suggested that
technology about geoengineering is inching closer to commercial viability.
Researchers at the Carbon engineering in Calgary, Canada wrote
in a study of Joule, which has been in action since 2015 in British Columbia.
The plant is based on a concept known as direct air capture which provided the
base for economic analysis, which comprises of all the cost estimates from the
commercial vendors of each and every major components.
On the basis of the
variety of economic assumptions and design options, the cost of sucking a tonne
of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere varies between 94 to 232 US dollars. The
American Physical Society conducted an analysis in 2011, which estimated it
would cost 600 US dollars per tonne.
Carbon Engineering claims that they published a paper to
enhance the topics about the potential and cost of the technology. They claimed
that they are trying to commercialize the direct capture of carbon dioxide in a
serious way and in order to achieve this, they need everybody in the supply
chain on board.
Carbon Engineering is one of the very few companies to pursue
direct air capture technology. Climeworks, a company based in Zurich,
Switzerland, their contemporary, opened a commercial facility last year that
can capture almost 900 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year
for utilization in greenhouses. The company has also launched another facility
in Iceland which helps to capture 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and bury
it underground for basalt formation.
Climeworks said that capturing a tonne of carbon dioxide at
their Swiss plant costs around 66 US dollars. The company, however, expects the
rate to go below 100 US dollars per tonne in the coming 5 to 10 years. The
paper by carbon engineering shows the most detailed study regarding the cost of
such technology.
The design provided by carbon engineering passes air along with
towers which contain a solution of potassium hydroxide, which reacts with
carbon dioxide and hence forms potassium carbonate. The solution is further
processed which results in calcium carbonate pellet which can be heated to
release carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide can then be pressurized and put in a
pipeline, which later could be buried underground.
The company is also planning
to utilize gas to produce low carbon, synthetic fuels. The head of the company
assures that they can produce these at about 1 US dollar per liter. When Carbon
engineering tried to capture air for this process, they were able to cut the
costs down to 94 US dollars per tonne of carbon dioxide.
Carbon Engineering hopes to build small facilities that can
produce up to 200 barrels of low carbon fuels per day by the year 2021. They
also plan to set up a commercial plant which will help produce 2000 barrels per
day. They claim that they just need to begin the process and see how all the
other things follow.
Sucking carbon dioxide from air is cheaper than scientists thought
Reviewed by Joe
on
May 27, 2019
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