280 Earth, Inc. announced the completion of its developmental process and the beginning of operations of its first direct air capture (DAC) facility. The DAC unit in Oregon removes carbon dioxide immediately from the atmosphere.
According to its website, the team spent five years developing the equipment and materials required for the pilot plant. The DAC unit is built on a site with a history of timber manufacturing.
Situated in The Dalles, Oregon, the unit’s first phase is designed to capture up to 50 tonnes of CO2 annually, along with water absorbed from ambient air. The carbon captured by the unit will be liquified and sealed off-site.
In addition, the captured carbon can be employed for industrial purposes, and the water absorbed from ambient air can be used for cooling or other purposes.
Also read: Pilot carbon capture unit begins operations at ArcelorMittal’s Ghent site
The DAC project maximises environmental benefits by using electricity with low carbon content. The facility can also use waste heat from nearby industries with its specially designed desorption process.
Desorption essentially refers to the process of releasing absorbed molecules into a surrounding vacuum or fluid.
American vendors predominantly manufacture the Oregon facility’s equipment and have the capacity to support the technology developer’s aspirations to expand to a 5,000-tonne-per-year module.
The expansion of 280 Earth’s DAC technology involves a skilled team of investors such as Builders VC, Gideon Yu, and Alphabet, Inc. The company recently acquired $50 million in Series B investment round.
This unit of 280 Earth gives a commercial demonstration of years of research and development by X, The Moonshot Factory, Alphabet’s innovation lab. The goal of the R&D was to grow and commercialise the use of DAC technology to remit CO2 emissions.
