Heirloom's plant, which captures CO2 directly from the atmosphere, has an initial capacity of 1,000 tons of CO2 per year and will rapidly scale up.
Trays of treated limestone used to absorb CO2 at Heirloom's factory. Photo: Reuters
In an open-air warehouse in California’s Central Valley, shelves 40 feet high hold hundreds of trays filled with white powder that turns brittle as it absorbs carbon dioxide from the sky. The startup building the facility, Heirloom Carbon Technologies, calls it the first commercial plant in the U.S. to use direct air capture technology, which captures greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Another plant is operating in Iceland, and some experts say the technology could play a key role in combating climate change, according to Yahoo .
Heirloom will capture CO2 from the air and permanently seal it in concrete, preventing it from warming the planet. To make money, Heirloom will sell carbon removal credits to companies that pay to offset their own emissions. Microsoft has signed a contract with Heirloom to remove 315,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. The company’s first facility in Tracy, which opened on November 9, is relatively small. It can absorb a maximum of 1,000 tons of CO2 per year, equivalent to the emissions from about 200 cars. But Heirloom hopes to quickly scale up.
The idea of using technology to suck CO2 out of the sky is becoming a reality, with hundreds of startups already in the works. Critics say many artificial methods of removing CO2 from the atmosphere are expensive, costing as much as $600 a ton, and could undermine efforts to cut emissions. Environmentalists warn that this could prolong the use of fossil fuels.
But many researchers say testing the technology is essential. Countries have delayed cutting greenhouse gas emissions for so long that it will be nearly impossible to keep global warming at acceptable levels unless they both cut emissions and remove billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by mid-century.
At the California plant, workers heat limestone to nearly 900 degrees Celsius in a furnace powered by renewable electricity. The CO2 released from the limestone is pumped into tanks. The remaining calcium oxide, which looks like flour, is mixed with water and sprayed onto large trays. Robots then place the trays on high shelves to expose them to the outside air. Over three days, the white powder absorbs the CO2 and turns back into limestone. The cycle repeats.
In California, Heirloom is partnering with CarbonCure, a company that mixes CO2 into concrete to turn it into a mineral that can’t escape into the atmosphere. In future projects, Heirloom also plans to inject CO2 into underground storage wells and bury them. Heirloom won’t disclose exact costs, but experts estimate that current direct air capture technology costs $600 to $1,000 per ton of CO2, making it the most expensive way to cut emissions.
Heirloom has set a long-term goal of $100 per ton, and will achieve that through economies of scale and mass production. For its next plant, planned for Louisiana, Heirloom will use more efficient kilns and denser layouts to save on land costs.
An Khang (According to Yahoo )
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