Direct Air Capture

With rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and no end to climate change in sight, direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 is necessary to reduce warming to below 2°C above preindustrial levels.

ISTC is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE-NETL) in a nearly $2.5 million project to develop preliminary designs and determine feasibility for the first commercial-scale direct air capture and storage system (DAC+S) for CO2 removal in the U.S. The team will evaluate DAC in three climate types using Climeworks’ technology:

  • Hot and very dry climate – A test site in southern California near the Salton Sea will be powered by geothermal energy, with the captured CO2 stored in a saline aquifer.
  • Hot and humid climate – A test site in Louisiana will use solar energy to power the DAC system while storing the captured CO2 in a saline aquifer.
  • Midcontinental climate – A test site in Wyoming will operate using wind power and store the captured CO2 in a depleted natural gas reservoir.

Partners include DOE-NETL, Climeworks, Kiewit Power Engineers, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Gulf Coast Sequestration, North Shore Energy, Sunpower, Ormat, and Sentinel Peak.

direct air capture equipment. outside with two huge gray metal boxes stacked on top of each other with 12 air intake fans each and big pipes leading gas separators