Chemistry in Pictures: Mechanical Trees

“Just plant trees,” critics of direct air carbon capture (DAC) say. Arizona State University engineering professor Klaus Lackner has a different idea: a DAC device he calls “Mechanical Trees .” Lackner and the team at Carbon Collect, a start-up licensing the tech from Arizona State, have been working on the chemistry and engineering of the system for several years. During Earth Week, he unveiled the prototype shown here in place at Arizona State. Carbon Collect says the device is up to a thousand times as efficient as trees at removing CO₂ from ambient air. And unlike most DAC technologies, the system relies on wind to pass air over its CO₂ sorbent blades, avoiding the energy cost and complexity of fans. When the sorbent is saturated, the blade assembly drops into the lower chamber, where heat and vacuum recover the CO₂ for transport and storage, regenerating the sorbent. Carbon Collect expects to seek new investors toward the end of this year.

Credit: Carbon Collect

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