Direct Air Capture (DAC) company Spiritus has started production of its sorbent, key material that will be used to remove carbon dioxide from the air.
Named Garden One, the facility is located in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and will span 37,500 square feet with the prospect of creating 30 new jobs in the next three years. The sorbent will be used in Spiritus’ first facility — called Orchard One — in Wyoming.
“By establishing our sorbent manufacturing operations near Kansas City, we’re able to tap into the area’s significant transportation infrastructure and strong technical labor pool,” said Mindy Ren, Head of Carbon Removal Infrastructure at Spiritus. “Lee’s Summit’s central location and proximity to major interstates and rail lines mean that we’re never more than two days from receiving raw materials or transporting completed sorbent to any location in the country. This helps us to minimize the carbon footprint of our manufacturing efforts through optimized transportation logistics – and sets us up to keep that footprint minimal as we establish new Carbon Orchards in the years to come.”
Spiritus’ global ambitions
2024 has seen rapid progression for the company with a slew of developments following its unveiling in September 2023.
In March it unveiled its first large-scale plant with a capacity of capturing up to 2MT of CO2. This was followed by an MoU with Aramco Ventures in May which had made an equity investment in 2023.
In August Spiritus filed for a Class VI permit to build a its Wyoming facility, taking advantage of the state’s primacy in issuing such permit.
This has lead the company to its first production facility in Missouri but the blueprint can be replicated globally according CEO and co-founder Charles Cadiue: “The material we’re producing at Garden One is exquisite in its structure, mimicking the human lung, and, yet, is easy to mass produce. To ensure this sorbent can be manufactured at scale while meeting the incredibly high standards needed to bring the cost of direct air capture under $100 per ton, it is crucial that Spiritus maintain end-to-end control of the process.
We’ve intentionally designed the sorbent to make use of easily obtainable materials, available in every global region, allowing us to set up manufacturing anywhere in the world while simultaneously keeping costs low. Missouri’s central location, strong labor pool, and competitive economic incentives made it an easy choice for Spiritus’ first manufacturing facility.”
Read more: Spiritus And Aramco Sign A Historic Direct Air Capture Agreement
