A surge of corporate money could soon be the push science needs to turn carbon removal into reality. But could it also offer the industry an excuse to continue its dangerous practices?
Technologies to suck carbon dioxide--a key player in greenhouse gases--out of the sky has been the center of debate between engineers, scientists, and green groups.
However, with the rising global warming concerns and society continuing to emit atmospheric carbon dioxide large companies are being pressured to act on the climate crisis.
A growing number of businesses are pouring money into engineered carbon removal technologies such as using giant fans to extract atmospheric CO2. These companies say that the technology works by offsetting emissions that cant is cut and can be the road to fulfilling "net zero" pledges.
CHECK OUT: Experts Say Carbon Capture Holds the Key to Meeting Climate Goals
What is Carbon Engineering?
According to a perspective article published in Frontiers in Climate Negative Emission Technologies, humans have dramatically altered the Earth's environmental envelop over the past 200 years.
There are specific technologies developed within the past decades such as carbon dioxide removal (CDR), direct air capture, and accelerated weathering of rocks.
Unlike capturing emissions, carbon engineering works by directly sucking CO2 out of the air around us. This will remove future emissions as well as large quantities of carbon dioxide from the past that is still trapped in our atmosphere today.
Occidental Petroleum and United Airlines are investing a large sum of money for a "direct air capture" plan in Texas.
Strip and Shopify, two leading e-commerce companies have both begun spending a minimum of $1 million per year on carbon removal start-ups such as sequestering CO2 in concrete for buildings.
At the same time, Microsoft announced last year that they will soon announce details on paying to remove 1 million tons of carbon dioxide.
The Science of Direct Air Capture
Direct air capture technologies pull atmospheric air, which is fed to turbines and chemical reactions that extract carbon dioxide while the rest of the air is returned to the environment.
The CO2 contained in the carbonate solutions are put through a series of chemical processes that purify, increase concentration, and compress it so it can be delivered in gas forms for easy use and storage.
This involves the separation of salt from the solution into tiny pellets (pellet reactor). The pellets are then heated to release the CO2 in pure gas. The processed pellets are then hydrated to be recycled back into the system.
It is similar to the process of photosynthesis done by plants and trees every day except DAC is quicker and has a smaller land footprint. After processing, the byproduct is compressed pure carbon dioxide that can either be reused or stored underground.
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