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One of the major challenges of DAC technologies is that the process of capturing CO2 from the air is extremely slow. The most commonly used materials take hours to bind CO2 to themselves. Carbyon developed a new type of material that can shorten this process to minutes. One kilo of Carbyon material can capture 5 tons of CO2 for a year.

Cutting costs

And that time savings means that the cost of this CO2 capture technology also goes down dramatically. Carbyon expects the purchase price of its machine (CAPEX) to cost $50 (€45) per ton of CO2 captured. To this CAPEX, operational energy costs must then be added to arrive at a total cost per ton of CO2 captured.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) published its expectations for the potential of DAC in 2022. Using the state of the art a year ago, the IEA estimated that a large DAC plant should be able to achieve a cost of 114 to 305 euros per ton of CO2 captured.

Targets

At least with a CAPEX of $50 per ton of CO2, Carbyon is well on its way to containing the overall cost of DAC. Over a year ago, Change Inc. spoke with Hans de Neve, founder of Carbyon. He said then about Carbyon's goals: "Currently it costs 500 to 700 euros to capture one ton of CO2. That would have to go to 50 to 100 per ton for it to be applied on a large scale."

Less energy needed

The cost of capturing CO2 is largely related to the amount of energy the process requires. Initially, Carbyon's technique faced damage from water absorption, which increased the process's energy demand. But the recent breakthrough has resulted in far less water absorption, limiting the energy demand to 2,500 kilowatt hours per ton of CO2. In the earlier interview, De Neve indicated that that price "has to go toward 1,000 kilowatt hours per ton anyway to make the business case interesting.

Lots of renewable power

DAC technology can, in principle, be applied anywhere in the world. But the business case becomes more interesting in places where renewable energy can be easily and cheaply generated, for example with many solar and wind farms, such as Australia, Tasmania and southern Chile.

$100 per ton of CO2

"Our tireless confrontation with Mother Nature's natural laws has finally given us insight into how to solve this puzzle," De Neve now says in a press release. "This is a significant team achievement; 2,500 kilowatt hours per ton is a challenging milestone for any DAC technology. By demonstrating this with an all-electric, low-CAPEX technology, Carbyon is in pole position to reach the $100 (€90, ed.) per ton goal that the market is looking for. Nothing can stop us now."

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