New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
First US commercial direct air capture to concrete facility unveiled
22/11/2023
News
The US’s first commercial direct air capture (DAC) to concrete facility has been commissioned, capable of capturing up to 1,000 t/y of CO2.
Located in Tracy, California, the DAC-to-concrete facility will help advance US President Joe Biden’s 2050 net zero goal.
Heirloom Carbon Technologies’ technology works by using limestone, an abundant and inexpensive material, to pull CO2 from the air. Using a renewable-energy-powered kiln, the limestone is heated to 899°C to extract the CO2, leaving a mineral powder (calcium oxide) that is thirsty to absorb more CO2. This powder is then spread onto vertically stacked trays where it acts like a sponge – pulling CO2 from the air. Once saturated with CO2, the material is returned to the kiln, the CO2 is extracted, and the process begins again. The captured CO2 gas is then permanently stored safely underground or embedded in concrete.
According to Heirloom, its technology means less fans are required to pull in the air compared to other DAC systems, taking less energy as it is leveraging limestone’s natural ability to pull carbon molecules out of the air.
‘By using easy-to-source materials like limestone, harnessing the power of algorithms to increase the capture capacity of that material, and scaling with modularity, the technology represents one of the lowest cost pathways to permanent CO2 removal,’ claims the company. Its goal is to remove 1bn tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2035 – a figure which represents 20% of today’s annual US emissions and 10% of global carbon removal needed annually by 2050.
The Tracy facility has a capture capacity of up to 1,000 t/y CO2 per year and will deliver net removals to early catalytic buyers of Heirloom’s CO2 removal credits, including Microsoft, Stripe, Shopify and Klarna. In what is reported to be one of the largest CO2 removal deals to date, Microsoft is to purchase up to 315,000 tonnes of CO2 removal from Heirloom over a 10+ year period.
Commenting at the unveiling, California Governor Gavin Newsom, said: ‘With the opening of Heirloom's facility, California is the first state in the nation where CO2 will be permanently and durably removed from the atmosphere through direct air capture and the first among nations to store atmospheric CO2 in concrete, supporting construction projects across the state.’
