Climeworks, a developer of atmospheric carbon capture technology, has opened what it claims is the world’s first commercial plant that captures atmospheric carbon dioxide for supply and sale to a customer. The direct air capture (DAC) plant near Zurich, Switzerland, is now supplying 900 tpy of CO₂ to a nearby greenhouse.

The DAC system is installed on the roof of a waste recovery facility and uses its low-grade waste heat to power The plants capture atmospheric carbon with a filter. (Source: Climeworks)the capture process. The CO₂ is chemically deposited on the filter surface, and upon filter saturation, the gas is isolated at about 100° C. Key markets for the captured gas include commercial agriculture, food and beverage industries, the energy sector and the automotive industry.

Capturing CO₂ locally for industrial uses enables customers to reduce their emissions and lessen their dependence on fossil fuels, as currently most industrial CO₂ is transported from fossil point sources via truck to industries on site. In comparison to other carbon capture technologies, a modular Climeworks plant can be employed almost anywhere.

The company has near-term plans to launch additional commercial pilot projects in key target markets and wants to test its technology’s potential to deliver negative emissions by combining it with underground storage. Longer-term, Climeworks aims to filter 1% of global CO₂ emissions by 2025 to help the international community limit global temperature rise to 2° C in line with the Paris climate agreement.