A group of researchers from the Institute for Environmental Decisions in Zürich conducted a study on the impact of Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology in making the aviation industry climate-neutral.
Acknowledging the ever-growing global demand for aviation services and the negative impact this sector currently has on the environment, the research team looked at two DAC methods that could help mitigate the harmful effects.
The first approach, DACCS (Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage), entails offsetting emissions from continued fossil fuel use by capturing and storing CO2, while the second approach, DACCU (Direct Air Carbon Capture and Utilization), refers to the production of synthetic fuels from captured CO2 and green hydrogen.
The team made an elaborate techno-economic assessment comparing the costs, energy use, and climate impacts of these methods, considering both CO2 neutrality and climate neutrality targets by 2050. Additionally, the research studied the conditions under which DACCU could become cost-competitive with DACCS.
The research results, published in Nature, showed that for climate neutrality targets, which include non-CO2 effects like contrails, DACCU is more cost-effective than DACCS, due to its ability for affordable mitigation of contrails through cleaner-burning synthetic fuels.
For carbon neutrality targets, DACCS is currently less expensive than DACCU, due to the high electricity and capital costs associated with green hydrogen production needed for DACCU.
In regard to the cost-competitiveness of DACCU, the research highlighted its sensitivity to the cost of electricity, the price of fossil kerosene, strategic policy intervention, and the implementation of additional mitigation measures that could make DACCU less cost-attractive than DACCS.
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The research team points out that reaching CO2 or climate neutrality in aviation through DAC technology would increase flight ticket prices by approximately 30-75%, but this increase is within the range of current flight price variations.
Lastly, in order to achieve climate-neutral aviation, the authors highlight the need for a mix of solutions, including biofuels, other CDR methods, and contrail mitigation strategies.
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