The Frontier Commitment has partnered with carbon removal developer Phlair, agreeing to invest $30.6 million in electrochemical direct air capture (DAC) to remove 47,000 tons of CO2 between 2027 and 2030.
This deal marks the first instance in which Frontier buyers will invest in electrochemical DAC.
The method developed by Phlair attracted the buyer’s attention with its cost-effective and energy-efficient performance.
Phlair stands out among other DAC options on the market with significant reductions in both building expenses and energy demand.
The company has developed a system that successfully extracts CO2 from an airflow without the need for heating, utilizing an all-electric design instead.
Its hydrogen-looping electrolyzer captures and releases carbon dioxide driven by electrochemistry rather than thermochemistry, making this process an affordable and energy-saving solution.
The system is able to function in sync with renewable energy source oscillations and cost dynamics, running continuously during peak sun hours and storing overproduced capture and release liquid in water tanks.
The tanks with stored liquid, in turn, act as a kind of battery, enabling the mechanism to work when the sun is down and energy costs are high without the need for using the energy-intensive electrolyzer.
Frontier Head of Deployment Hannah Bebbington stated, “Phlair’s combination of swapping heat for electrochemistry as well as its flexible energy management process shows one path to building energy-efficient DAC systems.”
Relevant: Revolutionary Solar-Powered DAC Reactor To Convert CO2 Into Sustainable Fuel
Phlair is hopeful that this technology will eventually reach an energy consumption rate lower than 1.5 MWh/tCO2, an amount threefold lower than the one required by other electricity-intensive carbon dioxide removal technologies.
Eventually, this efficiency would result in about $15/tCO2 cost savings, bringing the company closer to the long-term target of offering carbon removal at a price of $100/tCO2.
With this technology at hand, Phlair prides itself on being one of the first companies to deploy behind-the-meter solar power for DAC.
The $30.6 million financial boost from Frontier buyers will enable Phlair to deliver its first commercial-scale DAC facility in Alberta, Canada, called Project Dawn.
Read more: United Airlines Invests In DAC Tech By Heirloom, Securing Right To Buy 500k Tons Of CDR
