"The University of Michigan, in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will develop a technology that captures CO2 from the atmosphere using an electrochemical approach, rather than the temperature swing cycle which is typically powered by fossil fuel combustion. The team’s concept is a pH swing cycle that changes conditions between basic and acidic to capture and release CO2, respectively. Direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 by inexpensive renewable electricity could reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of DAC. The team aims to optimize the design of the cycle to achieve high rates of CO2 separation at low energy inputs."

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Akimoto, Keigo; Sano, Fuminori; Oda, Junichiro; Kanaboshi, Haruo; Nakano, Yuko (2021): Climate change mitigation measures for global net-zero emissions and the roles of CO2 capture and utilization and direct air capture. In Energy and Climate Change, p. 100057. DOI: 10.1016/j.egycc.2021.100057.

"Many existing scenario studies show the need for large amounts of biomass energy with carbon dioxide capture and storage (BECCS) to achieve net-zero emissions, requiring high mitigation costs. This study provides comprehensive and cost-efficient technological portfolios for both energy supply and demand, and reveals the roles of carbon dioxide utilization (CCU) and direct air capture (DAC) for achieving global net-zero emissions by using a technology-rich global energy systems and climate change mitigation model which can assess them comprehensively, while considering several kinds of uncertainties. According to the analyses, DAC will be able to dramatically reduce emission reduction costs and alleviate dependence on BECCS. There are no feasible solutions for temperature increases below 1.5 °C in 2100 with 66% achievability under a temperature overshoot pathway unless DAC is used. Carbon free or nearly carbon free hydrogen plays important roles for net-zero emissions, and CCU helps increase the usability of hydrogen via synthetic fuels, and thus contributes to net-zero emissions. The relationships between DAC and CCU are very complex; the reductions in marginal abatement costs of carbon dioxide (CO₂) due to DAC will reduce the roles of CCU around 2050 for many of the pathways to net-zero emissions. Meanwhile, for deeper reductions of CO₂ emissions including net negative emissions in 2100, DAC will increase the roles of CCU by providing recovered CO₂ from DAC, and also expand the opportunity for the use of recovered CO₂ from fossil fuel combustion for synthetic fuels, because the related emissions are offset by larger negative emissions from the combination of DAC and CO₂ storage (DACCS)."

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"Climeworks launches the world's first direct air capture and storage plant in Hellisheidi, Iceland. This marks a milestone in the fight against climate change."

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"Climeworks launches Orca, the world’s largest direct air capture and storage plant that permanently removes CO₂ from the air. [...] Orca is the first-of-its-kind plant that translates the vision of industrial-scale direct air capture and storage into reality. This improved technology generation comes in an award-winning new design, which embodies the interconnection between nature and technology. For the technology generation which Orca represents, Climeworks has been able to intensify the process leading to increased CO₂ capture capacity per module. This optimized process means that more carbon dioxide can be captured and stored than ever before."

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