The largest direct air capture and storage plant for carbon removal, named Mammoth, has started operating in Iceland.
Climeworks broke ground on Mammoth in June 2022. The plant is built in a modular design, with 12 of its total 72 collector containers currently installed onsite. The plant will be completed throughout 2024. It is designed for a capture capacity of up to 36 000 tons of CO2 per year.
Mammoth has successfully started to capture its first CO2. It uses renewable energy to power its direct air capture process, which requires low-temperature heat like boiling water.
Geothermal energy partner ON Power in Iceland provides the energy necessary for this process.
Once the CO2 is released from the filters, storage partner Carbfix transports it underground, where it reacts with basaltic rock through a natural process, which transforms into stone, and remains permanently stored.
Climeworks verifies and certifies the whole process by independent third parties.
The operational and testing learnings from this plant will be deployed in the next direct air capture projects. Until 2030, Climeworks’ roadmap focuses on megaton hub roll-out.
Climeworks is part of three megaton direct air capture hub proposals in the US, all of which were selected by the US Department of Energy for public funding for a total of more than $600-million.
Climeworks will replicate its megaton hubs worldwide to reach a global scale. The company actively develops projects in Norway, Kenya and Canada and explores further potential direct air capture and storage sites.