Climeworks has announced that its Orca direct air capture and CO2 storage has finally begun operations. It is the world’s largest of its kind. The facility is built to remove carbon dioxide from the air permanently. Construction of Orca kicked off in May 2020 and it packs advanced molecular technology with stackable collector units.
The stackable footprint allows the plant to capture significant amounts of CO2 from the air, all this while maintaining a small physical footprint. The design of the facility enables it to be operational in under 15 months. Additionally, Climeworks says that when compared to previous iterations of the technology, Orca has trimmed the use of steel in the collector units by about 50% output unit.
Increasing CO2 capture capacity with new technology
The modular design and build times make the new facility easy to replicate at locations around the world where storage and renewable energy are available. The first Orca facility is built next to the ON Power Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant, and it is powered totally by renewable energy. The facility is the first plant of its kind to bring industrial-scale direct air capture and carbon dioxide storage into the real world.
The novel tech used in the plant enables an increased carbon dioxide capture capacity for each module. This leads to an optimized process for capturing and storing more CO2 than ever before. CO2 captured by the plant is stored underground with the help of a process by a partner firm called Carbfix.
Making the atmosphere clean
The process requires around two years for underground mineralization of the captured CO2 pumped deep underground with water. This natural mineralization process traps carbon dioxide in stone. Orca aims to remove around 4,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year, storing it underground safely.
Speaking of clean energy, French scientists have finally received the most powerful tools in the effort to create nuclear fusion – a massive magnet. Researchers at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) have started the first part of the magnet after they received it from its maker.
