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.

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