Direct emission capture technology assessed by IPCC can contribute to combating climate change
The decision by the Biden administration is a historic gamble for the country on a technology that is still in development to combat climate change, and one that has faced criticism from scientists.
The biggest investment in history
The two projects are being implemented in Texas and Louisiana, with each project aiming to eliminate 1 million tons of CO2 /year, equivalent to the annual emissions of 445,000 gasoline-powered cars.
Bloomberg quoted the US Department of Energy's announcement as saying that the dual project represents "the world's largest investment in history in the field of applying CO2 removal technology" to respond to climate change.
"Emissions reductions alone will not reverse the growing impacts of climate change," said US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. "We also need to eliminate the CO2 that has already been released into the atmosphere."
Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, also known as CO 2 Reduction (CDR) technology, focuses on treating CO 2 released into the air that leads to climate change and leads to extreme weather events.
Each US project is expected by the US Department of Energy to "suck" 250 times more CO2 from the air than the largest emissions capture facility currently operating in Iceland, Orca. The Iceland facility has a capacity to capture 4,000 tons of CO2 / year, according to Reuters.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) believes that capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere is one of the necessary measures to deal with global warming.
A direct emissions capture facility by Climeworks
However, the field remains quite limited. There are currently only 27 CO2 capture facilities operating worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency (IAEA). At least 130 projects are in development.
And some experts worry that using the technology will serve as an excuse to continue emitting more greenhouse gases, rather than focusing on accelerating the transition to clean energy.
AFP quoted Professor Mark Jacobson of Stanford University (USA) also warning that directly capturing emissions from the air and compressing them into pipes would require huge amounts of energy.
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Even in the best-case scenario of using electricity from renewable energy, the professor said, this energy source should be used to replace electricity from fossil fuels such as coal and gas instead of serving to "suck" CO2 out of the air.
Therefore, Professor Jacobson believes that DAC or CDR is nothing more than a "gimmick used in advertising" and only delays real solutions to the climate problem.
Storing CO2 underground
Returning to the two projects that the US government is preparing to implement, the non-profit organization Battelle (headquartered in Columbus, Ohio) is the main contractor for the Louisiana project. In this project, CO 2 will be "sucked" directly from the air and stored underground.
Graphical extract of a facility built by Carbon Engineering
Battelle will partner with another US company, Heirloom, and Swiss company Climeworks to carry out the project. Climeworks is also the main contractor for the Orca facility project in Iceland.
In addition, the Texas project will be led by Occidental (USA) and other partners, including Carbon Engineering (Canada). This facility can be upgraded to eliminate up to 30 million tons of CO2 / year.
"The rocks inside the ground in Louisiana and Texas are sedimentary, different from the basalts in Iceland, but are perfectly suited for storing CO2 ," said researcher Helene Pilorge of the University of Pennsylvania, commenting on the new US government effort.
The US Department of Energy said the two projects will create 4,800 jobs for local residents. The start date for both projects is still unknown, but construction funding will come from the US federal government budget.
The technology differs from CO2 capture and storage (CCS) techniques at the source, such as adjusting factory chimneys to prevent emissions from being released into the atmosphere.
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