Million tons of CO2 removal via direct air capture (DAC) tech will be a reality in the next few years. California-based DAC modules developer CarbonCapture Inc. announced on September 8th an exclusive partnership with a leading carbon storage developer Frontier Carbon Solutions to build a project called Project Bison that will capture and permanently remove 5 million tons of atmospheric CO2 annually by 2030.
CarbonCapture plans to have the first DAC modules fielded by the end of next year and to continue installing capacity as soon as modules come off the production line.
The goal is to leverage economies of scale to offer the lowest priced direct air capture carbon removal credits in the market.
The project is the largest in the world in removing CO2 directly from the air. It is also the first major scalable deployment of DAC technology. It is the first to inject and permanently store CO2 underground in Class VI wells or federally approved wells.
The partnership includes CarbonCapture deploying its DAC modules and Frontier offering its CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure in Wyoming for permanent storage. It is planned to be developed over multiple phases through 2030 and is expected to become operational by the end of 2023.
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The deadline comes a year before Occidental and competitor Carbon Engineering’s direct air capture and storage project that targets the removal of 1 million tons of CO2 per year. The capacity is also significantly more than that of Climeworks’ Mammoth project which will suck 36,000 tons of CO2 from the air annually.
The location chosen for Project Bison is Wyoming as the area has a broad availability of renewable and zero carbon energy sources as well as a favorable regulatory and operating environment for carbon storage.
“With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the proliferation of companies seeking high-quality carbon removal credits, and a disruptive low-cost technology, we now have the ingredients needed to scale DAC to megaton levels by the end of this decade,” said Adrian Corless, CEO and CTO, CarbonCapture Inc.
The approval of the Act is a turning moment for carbon removal technology developers. It unlocks opportunities for them to be receivers of massive tax support. The Inflation Reduction Act has raised the 45Q federal tax credit for US DAC projects to $180/ton from $50/ton previously which makes such projects much more financially attractive.
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Carbon Capture Inc. (CarbonCapture) is a climate technology startup founded in 2019 that specializes in machines for direct air capture, removing excess CO2 from the atmosphere. The company announced in October last year that it closed a $35 million Series A funding round to scale its technology.
“We’ve got hundreds of gigatons of carbon in the atmosphere that have to be removed… I’m very optimistic that they (Project Bison) will be able to deliver a very exciting and practical way to remove carbon from the environment,” commented Marc Benioff – Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Salesforce, an investor in CarbonCapture Inc.
Would love to understand more about the water use and even the lifecycle assessment for this project. As with any effort for climate mitigation, both sides of the ledger need to be accounted for…