Climeworks starts up direct air CO₂ capture plant in Iceland

Climeworks has opened what it calls the world’s largest direct air carbon dioxide capture and storage plant. The facility, in Orca, Iceland, is powered by geothermal energy; the captured CO₂ will be mineralized over 2 years using an aqueous underground process from the start-up Carbfix. In addition to sequestering 4,000 metric tons of CO₂ per year, the facility is an early test of Climework’s platform. The plant uses a series of sorbent-containing units the size of shipping containers, a design approach that allowed the Orca site to be built and commissioned in just 15 months.