4 ms·

Wonder how does it compare with Terraform Industries approach - how quickly Climeworks is going to increase the capacity in comparison.

• asadotzler 2y ago
  Similar at the DAC level but TI takes the captured CO2 and combines it with solar powered electrolysis created hydrogen in a methanation process to create a liquid fuel, while Climeworks combines the CO2 with water and pumps that carbonic acid underground to store it permanently as rock. For the DAC, both companies use some form of chemical absorption or adsorption and big fans to move a lot of air, but the specifics of their filters, materials, and configurations don't seem to be public. Climeworks is faster out of the gate, but I think TI plans to go bigger over the long term, perhaps 100-500 times bigger. Both are not ready for large scale without massive subsidies or more and much higher carbon taxes. They're both meaningless in the big carbon picture for the foreseeable future and probably will be for multiple decades. But, maybe as we get into the second half of the century, one or both will have a meaningful impact, or inspire others to similar outcomes. DAC can work if we price carbon with DAC in mind. If we continue to pretend CO2 pollution doesn't matter much, it won't work.
  • avmich 2y ago
    The advantage of TI approach is that they propose to earn money - if you bought their plant, you can sell methane, no carbon tax needed - you just make a product. I think in this sense TI has greater scaling potential.