The US government has provided $3.5 billion in grants to companies in return for capturing and storing carbon dioxide permanently, using a process known as direct air extraction.“.
How does Direct Air Extraction work?
- The technology uses chemical reactions to remove carbon dioxide from the air, so it can be stored in huge underground reservoirs, or used in products or applications such as making concrete or jet fuel..
- The largest operating direct air extraction plant, the Clayworks Orca plant in Iceland, can remove 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, which is stored deep underground..
- The US program seeks to finance huge plants capable of extracting one million tons annually.
What about trees?
- Natural ways of sequestering carbon, such as afforestation and forest management, are expected to play a central role in helping combat climate change.
- This solution is relatively cheap, with the World Resources Institute reporting that it costs less than $50 per ton of CO2, compared to technologies such as “DAR” which currently cost in the high double-digits per ton..
- But many scientists believe that technical solutions will be necessary, in part because reliance on afforestation alone to offset carbon would require cultivating vast tracts of land..
Are there other ways to capture carbon?
- Other technologies include bioenergy, with carbon capture and storage.
- Through this technology, electricity is produced by burning biomass, such as wood particles, and capturing and storing the emissions generated during the process..
- Biochar is a form of charcoal that is produced when organic materials, such as leaves, wood or straw, are heated at high temperatures without oxygen, resulting in a carbon-rich material.
- This material can be used as a fertilizer, thus storing carbon in agricultural soils.
It is noteworthy that technologies are also being developed to remove carbon dioxide from seawater, according to Reuters.
What are the uses of carbon capture and storage technology?
- CCS is typically used in factory stacks, such as fossil fuel power plants, where carbon dioxide is captured and stored before it reaches the atmosphere..
- This is not carbon removal unless the amount of carbon dioxide extracted using the technology is greater than the amount produced by industrial processes on site..
- The main advantage of other carbon removal technologies over CCS is that they can pull ancient emissions from the atmosphere and store them in soil, rocks, trees, oceans, and products.
- This goes beyond reducing emissions, to removing them permanently.
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