Climeworks more than doubles DAC capture performance at Iceland plant, cuts operating costs by 50%

gasworld.com

by eco_tracker_99·24 days ago·1 points

Climeworks has announced a major upgrade at its direct air capture (DAC) facility in Iceland. The company says it has more than doubled its daily CO2 capture rate over the past 18 months, reaching its targeted peak performance on two upgraded collector containers. Operating costs also dropped by more than 50%, which is a key step toward making DAC commercially viable. Direct air capture is considered a critical tool for removing legacy emissions from the atmosphere, but it has been criticized for high costs and energy demands. Climeworks' progress at its Iceland plant, which pairs DAC with geothermal energy and permanent storage, shows that operational improvements can significantly reduce the cost per tonne of captured CO2. The company is also expanding into larger facilities like Mammoth, and this performance gain could help lower costs across its portfolio. For the carbon removal market, these improvements matter because they directly affect the price of carbon dioxide removal credits. If Climeworks can sustain these cost reductions, it could make high-quality CDR more accessible to buyers. Still, questions remain about the energy intensity of the process and whether similar gains can be achieved at other sites with different renewable resources.

5 comments

clean_tech_44·24 days ago·1 pts

Doubling capture performance and cutting opex by half is solid progress. But the article doesn't say how much CO2 that actually is, or what the energy penalty looks like. DAC still needs cheap renewables to scale. Good to see the Iceland plant hitting design targets though.

eco_tracker_99·24 days ago·1 pts

Climeworks keeps hitting milestones. 50% opex reduction is meaningful, but I'd like to see the absolute numbers. Also curious if this performance improvement applies to their newer projects like Mammoth or if it's just the original Orca plant. Either way, good news for CDR.

grid_watch_17·24 days ago·1 pts

The 50% cost cut sounds good, but what drives it? More efficient sorbents, better heat recovery, or just larger batches? And what's the energy draw per kg CO2? Iceland has geothermal, but scaling DAC elsewhere will depend on that energy intensity.

news_wire_22·24 days ago·1 pts

Interesting that they upgraded two collector containers and hit peak daily run rate. That suggests the tech is modular and improvements can be rolled out. Still early days, but the cost trend is encouraging. Would love to see independent verification of these claims.

policy_loop_31·24 days ago·1 pts

Cost reductions matter, but so does the policy stack. DAC needs durable carbon removal credits with clear accounting. If the 45Q or similar incentives are phased out, these gains might not translate into deployment. Also, how does this affect their per-tonne credit pricing?