The world's largest ocean CO2 removal plant.

Singapore's Equatic-1 plant is expected to use electrolysis technology to remove up to 10 tonnes of CO2 per day from seawater and the atmosphere.

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is partnering with the Singapore National Water Authority and other agencies to build Equatic-1, the world's largest ocean CO2 removal plant, New Atlas reported on February 29. The plant is expected to remove 3,650 tons of CO2 annually while producing 105 tons of carbon-negative hydrogen.

The Equatic-1 project follows the successful deployment of two pilot systems for removing CO2 from the ocean in Los Angeles and Singapore in 2023. This will be a full-scale demonstration plant costing approximately $20 million.

The plant's process utilizes electrolysis, passing an electric current through seawater from nearby desalination plants. This process creates chemical reactions that break down the water into hydrogen and oxygen, while safely storing dissolved and atmospheric CO2 in solid magnesium and calcium-based materials for at least 10,000 years. The process enhances the ocean's natural CO2 storage capacity by removing dissolved CO2, allowing the ocean to absorb more greenhouse gases.

A team of researchers and experts from the Institute for Carbon Management (ICM) and UCLA startup Equatic will travel to a research and development facility in Tuas, west of Singapore, to begin construction of the world's largest ocean CO2 removal plant within the next 18 months.

Equatic-1 is planned to be built in two phases, with the first phase beginning in March, aiming to remove one ton of CO2 per day by the end of 2024. The installation of nine additional modules in early 2025 will mark the completion of the second phase. With 10 operational modules, Equatic-1 is expected to be able to remove 10 tons of CO2 per day from seawater and the atmosphere.

The pilot plant in Singapore was considered a success after removing 0.1 tonnes of CO2 per day, while Equatic-1 will remove 100 times that amount. In addition, Equatic-1's technology can also simultaneously produce nearly 300 kg of carbon-negative hydrogen per day.

According to the World Bank, the average global CO2 emissions in 2020 were 4.3 tonnes per capita. Therefore, plants like Equatic-1 could play a crucial role in processing these emissions.

Thu Thao (According to New Atlas )

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