Thread: Carbon remediation: Direct Air Capture of carbon dioxide as a means to reduce global warming, NOW!!

The ultimate approach to immediately reducing global warming is the rapid removal of carbon dioxide, CO2, from the atmosphere. Removing other gases is more problematic, but CO2 remediation and sequestration is under consideration on a large scale by a group of people in Scotland.

The BBC reports on their remarkable effort to reduce global CO2 levels by Direct Air Capture (DAC) using established technology, and trying to scale it up to global levels. DAC allows for the removal of large amounts of CO2 directly from the air, where it is then sequestered by various means. It may be our only real hope out of the enormous mess we are in.

Climate change is going to wreck havoc on human activities around the world - to be sure, it already is! Something needs to be done on a dramatic scale if we are to prevent a global catastrophe, which we appear to be already seeing. Much money will be needed with lots of governments getting into this big time. But what is the alternative? We don't even want to think about it. Haven't we seen enough already?! And it has only just begun.

What we need is to do something about it. NOW! Perhaps our friends in Scotland and their associates can figure this one out for us. They are very clever people, after all.*


Read more about the DAC technology at :

"Climate change: Large-scale CO2 removal facility set for Scotland"

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57588248


* Al Stewart, my favorite rock star, is from Glasgow, which is saying a lot if you know his brilliant music!

The Japanese have developed a promising new means of direct CO2 capture from the air using a unique chemistry, one which is much more efficient than previous approaches*.

Quoting from the Newsweek article :

"The new carbon capture system is said to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere "with unprecedented performance," with experts saying that they want to not only slow down climate change but also go "beyond zero" and actually reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."

and again :

"The expert said that the isophorone diamine (IPDA) in a "liquid-solid phase separation" system was "found to remove carbon dioxide at the low concentrations contained in the atmosphere with 99-percent efficiency."

"They said that it was at least as twice as fast as existing systems and that it uses compounds that are reusable, labeling it an "exciting new development for direct air capture.""

end quotes

There is little doubt the only hope humans have of reversing global warming and its associated climate change is by dramatic and rapid removal of CO2 from the atmosphere as it continues to rise, in view of the feeble efforts to prevent it.


"High-Speed Carbon Dioxide Catcher Heralds New Era in Fight Against Climate Change"

* https://www.newsweek.com/high-speed-...change-1712165

Originally Posted by Double Helix

The Japanese have developed a promising new means of direct CO2 capture from the air using a unique chemistry, one which is much more efficient than previous approaches*.

Quoting from the Newsweek article :

"The new carbon capture system is said to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere "with unprecedented performance," with experts saying that they want to not only slow down climate change but also go "beyond zero" and actually reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."

and again :

"The expert said that the isophorone diamine (IPDA) in a "liquid-solid phase separation" system was "found to remove carbon dioxide at the low concentrations contained in the atmosphere with 99-percent efficiency."

"They said that it was at least as twice as fast as existing systems and that it uses compounds that are reusable, labeling it an "exciting new development for direct air capture.""

end quotes

There is little doubt the only hope humans have of reversing global warming and its associated climate change is by dramatic and rapid removal of CO2 from the atmosphere as it continues to rise, in view of the feeble efforts to prevent it.


"High-Speed Carbon Dioxide Catcher Heralds New Era in Fight Against Climate Change"

* https://www.newsweek.com/high-speed-...change-1712165

Sounds hopeful.Maybe ,while they are at it they might suck Putin out of the Kremlin and maybe deposit him somewhere in the Antarctic

BBC News is reporting that the UK's largest facility for direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 has opened in Northwich, Cheshire*. It is expected to remove 40,000 tons of atmospheric CO2 per year. While this is only a trace of the billions of tones of CO2 which plagues us, it is at least moving in the right direction.

Perhaps it will help to kick start more significant investments into DAC, which is likely the only means of reversing the catastrophic climate changes we are already suffering. And it will only get worse unless something is done to actively reduce greenhouse gases. The rate that they are actively being produced will end very badly for humans, and most of life on earth unless we act quickly. That this is true should be obvious to anyone with knowledge of current global environmental events.

The war on environmental degradation needs to begin soon, or there will be hell to pay. People think things are bad now with all the droughts, floods and fires. They are only just the beginning. We need DAC now!


"UK's largest carbon capture plant opens in Northwich"

* https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-61925014

Originally Posted by Double Helix

BBC News is reporting that the UK's largest facility for direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 has opened in Northwich, Cheshire*. It is expected to remove 40,000 tons of atmospheric CO2 per year. While this is only a trace of the billions of tones of CO2 which plagues us, it is at least moving in the right direction.

Perhaps it will help to kick start more significant investments into DAC, which is likely the only means of reversing the catastrophic climate changes we are already suffering. And it will only get worse unless something is done to actively reduce greenhouse gases. The rate that they are actively being produced will end very badly for humans, and most of life on earth unless we act quickly. That this is true should be obvious to anyone with knowledge of current global environmental events.

The war on environmental degradation needs to begin soon, or there will be hell to pay. People think things are bad now with all the droughts, floods and fires. They are only just the beginning. We need DAC now!


"UK's largest carbon capture plant opens in Northwich"

* https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-61925014

If the captured CO2 is used in products rather than sequestered it will return to the atmosphere.

What we need more than DAC is deeper commitment to zero emissions and clean energy; reducing emissions is the most urgent part and the most beneficial.

Originally Posted by Ken Fabos

If the captured CO2 is used in products rather than sequestered it will return to the atmosphere.

What we need more than DAC is deeper commitment to zero emissions and clean energy; reducing emissions is the most urgent part and the most beneficial.

Most bicarbonate of soda is currently produced from mining ash, so it already contributes some CO2 to the atmosphere in any event. Making bicarbonate of soda by CO2 capture and remediation as noted in the BBC article would actually reduce atmospheric release otherwise coming from the mined source. While this whole process does not amount to that much CO2 removal, it does provide some income for the DAC installation, which helps to keep it running. It also brings DAC to people's attention, to let them know there is an alternative if we are willing to take it.

Most large scale DAC installations are likely to use deep well or deep ocean injection to sequester CO2 long term (1). And another BBC report indicates that renewables and green energy applications are simply not capable of keeping up with the enormous output of CO2 which is ever-increasing (2). Quoting from that report:

"The share of renewable energy has moved in the last decade from 10.6% to 11.7%, but fossil fuels, all coal and gas have moved from 80.1% to 79.6%. So, it's stagnating," said Rana Adib, the executive director of REN21.

"And since the energy demand is rising, this actually means that we are consuming more fossil fuels than ever."

end quote.

And a recent U.N. report (3) indicates that we are headed for disaster despite all the efforts for green energy.

Green is certainly optimal, but it is coming too little and too late. Only massive DAC operations can reverse this story because people are not going to stop cranking out vast amounts of GH gases.


"Ocean storage of carbon dioxide"

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_...carbon_dioxide


"Climate change: Green energy 'stagnates' as fossil fuels dominate"

2. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-61802802


"UN climate report: It’s ‘now or never’ to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees"

3. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1115452

More on DAC, and the war on carbon.

Reuters has a story out about the Swiss company Climeworks AG, which is going to build a 600 million (Swiss) DAC facility in Iceland, to be powered by geothermal energy*. The DAC is planned to remove 36,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, close to that of the one in Northwich, Cheshire. However, remediation in this DAC is by underground injection where precipitation of the CO2 occurs so it can never escape.

The plan is to build many of these units in the same area, to scale up the whole process, as will be required since global emissions is around 40-50 gigatons per year as CO2. The article goes on to note that there are "18 direct air capture facilities, according to the International Energy Agency.", and that "U.S. oil firm Occidental also plans to launch a large-scale DAC facility, in late-2024, to collect 1 million tonnes per year of CO2."

While the task is more than significant, the experts (as noted in this article and many others quoted in this thread) are convinced that DAC is the only solution to climate change. Nothing else that is planned or even operational comes even close to providing salvation from the no-longer impending disaster which is occurring as a result of emissions. That so much money is being spent on DAC is another clear indication that many people are understanding this conclusion as well.


"Climate tech firm to launch scaled-up plant sucking CO2 from air"

* https://www.reuters.com/business/sus...ir-2022-06-28/