Direct Air Capture (DAC), sometimes called Direct Air Carbon Capture and Sequestration (DACCS) is a technology that draws carbon dioxide from the air. Removing ambient carbon is an important adjunct to drawing down source emissions. One of the first examples of DAC debuted in 2009 when Columbia University Physicist Peter Eisenberger invented a machine that could clean carbon from the air. As explained in MIT Technology Review, his approach uses chemicals called amines, while other approaches involve the use of sodium hydroxide.
DAC is part of a suite of carbon technologies that represent critical climate tech. These technologies are becoming ever more important as carbon emissions keep rising. “Negative emissions are definitely needed to restore the atmosphere given that we’re going to far exceed any safe limit for CO2 if there is one,” says Daniel Schrag, director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Climate change is caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon. Prior to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution atmospheric carbon levels were below 300 ppm, they are currently well above 421 ppm and climbing.
Reducing the emissions that we produce is essential but countries emissions reduction pledges are inadequate and not being honored. It is clear that we are not doing enough to reduce emissions and we are on track to blow past the 1.5 C Celsius upper threshold limit. We must begin thinking about technologies that will enable us to actively remove carbon from the air if we are to have a hope of reducing emissions consistent with the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement.
In the video below, Dr. Richard Adamson, President of Carbon Management Canada Research Institutes, reviews the need for carbon capture and the state of industrial-scale air capture technology development. Dr. Naoko Ellis, a Professor of Chemical Engineering at UBC, introduces some of the innovative technologies currently under development, including different approaches to DAC like amine scrubbers, sorbents, and metal-organic frameworks.
For references and more information go to CDR Resources. See also Glossary of Terminology Related to CDR.
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