Carbon capture and storage

World's Largest Plant Capturing Carbon From Air Starts in Iceland

The world's largest plant that sucks carbon dioxide directly from the air and deposits it underground is due to start operating on 15 September, the company behind the nascent green technology said.

Climeworks.jpg
A Climeworks facility for capturing carbon dioxide from air is placed on the roof of a waste-incinerating plant in Hinwil, Switzerland, on 18 July 2017.
Credit: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters.

The world's largest plant that sucks carbon dioxide directly from the air and deposits it underground is due to start operating on 15 September, the company behind the nascent green technology said.

Swiss start-up Climeworks, which specializes in capturing carbon dioxide directly from the air, has partnered with Icelandic carbon storage firm Carbfix to develop a plant that sucks out up to 4,000 tons of CO2 per year. That's the equivalent of the annual emissions from about 790 cars. Last year, global CO2-emissions totaled 31.5 billion tonnes, according to the International Energy Agency.

Direct air capture is one of the few technologies extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and is viewed by scientists as vital to limit global warming, blamed for causing more heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and rising sea levels.

The Orca plant, a reference to the Icelandic word for energy, consists of eight large containers similar in looks to those used in the shipping industry, which use high-tech filters and fans to extract carbon dioxide.

The isolated carbon is then mixed with water and pumped deep underground, where it slowly turns into rock. Both technologies are powered by renewable energy sourced from a nearby geothermal power plant.

Read the full story here.