Climeworks, a Swiss company, has unveiled a record-breaking carbon capture plant in Iceland, utilizing the country’s abundant geothermal energy. The Mammoth plant, located within the Hellisheiði geothermal park, is ten times larger than Climeworks’ previous facility and has the capacity to remove up to 36,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually.
The plant operates by drawing air into a collector using giant fans, then releasing the highly concentrated CO2 after heating the collector. This captured carbon is then injected 1,000 meters deep by Carbfix, an Icelandic partner, where it reacts with basalt rock and mineralizes over a two-year period.
Climeworks’ Mammoth plant is the largest direct air capture (DAC) facility in the world, demonstrating the company’s commitment to scaling up this technology. Climeworks aims to achieve megaton-scale carbon removal capacity by 2030 and gigaton-scale capacity by 2050.
While DAC and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are often touted as potential solutions to climate change, experts emphasize the need for both technological advancements and rapid, large-scale emissions reductions to effectively mitigate the impacts of climate change. Some experts also raise concerns about the water usage and cost associated with DAC+S methods, highlighting the need for further research and development to optimize these technologies.
Despite these challenges, Climeworks remains committed to expanding its carbon capture operations, with plans to develop multiple megatonne-scale hubs in the US, Kenya, and Canada, leveraging the experience gained from its Icelandic plants. The company’s dedication to scaling up carbon capture demonstrates the potential of this technology in the fight against climate change, offering a complementary approach to emissions reductions in industries where direct mitigation is difficult or infeasible.
