The world’s largest plant that sucks carbon dioxide directly from the air and deposits it underground started operating on Wednesday last week, the company behind the nascent green technology said.
Swiss start-up Climeworks AG, which specializes in capturing carbon dioxide directly from the air, has partnered with Icelandic carbon storage firm Carbfix to develop a plant that sucks out up to 4,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. That’s the equivalent of the annual emissions from about 790 cars. Last year, global CO2 emissions totaled 31.5 billion tonnes, according to the International Energy Agency.
Direct air capture is one of the few technologies extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and it is viewed by scientists as vital to limit global warming, blamed for causing more heatwaves, wildfires, floods and rising sea levels.
Photo: Bloomberg 照片：彭博社
The Orca plant, a reference to the Icelandic word for energy, consists of eight large containers similar in looks to those used in the shipping industry, which employ high-tech filters and fans to extract carbon dioxide. The isolated carbon is then mixed with water and pumped deep underground, where it slowly turns into rock. Both technologies are powered by renewable energy sourced from a nearby geothermal power plant.
Direct air capture is still a fledgling and costly technology, but developers hope to drive down prices by scaling up as more companies and consumers look to reduce their carbon footprint.
There are currently 15 direct air capture plants operating worldwide, capturing more than 9,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, according to the IEA. US oil firm Occidental is currently developing the largest direct-air-capture facility, to pull 1 million tonnes per year of carbon dioxide from the open air near some of its Texas oilfields.
(Reuters)
世界上最大，可直接吸取空氣中之二氧化碳，並將其儲存於地底的工廠，已於上週三開始運作，提供該新興綠色科技之公司表示。
瑞士新創公司Climeworks AG專門從空氣中直接捕集二氧化碳，它與冰島碳儲存公司Carbfix合作開發了一座工廠，每年可吸收多達四千噸二氧化碳，這相當於大約七百九十輛汽車一年的排放量。根據國際能源署的統計，去年全球二氧化碳排放量總計為三百一十五億噸。
直接從空氣捕集是少數能夠從大氣中提取二氧化碳的技術之一，科學家認為它對限制全球暖化極為重要。全球暖化被認為是造成熱浪、野火、洪水更頻繁，以及海平面上升的罪魁禍首。
此工廠名為Orca，源於冰島語「能源」一詞，是由八個看似航運貨櫃的大容器組成，採用高科技過濾器與風扇來提取二氧化碳；所分離出的碳加入水混合後，再打入地底深處，讓它在地底慢慢變成岩石。這兩種技術所使用的動力，均來自附近地熱發電廠的可再生能源。
直接從空氣捕集碳仍屬新興且成本高昂的技術，但有越來越多的公司與消費者希望減少碳足跡，開發商盼通過擴大規模來降低價格。
據國際能源署統計，目前全球有十五座空氣捕集廠在營運，每年捕集的二氧化碳超過九千噸。美國西方石油公司目前正開發最大的直接空氣捕集設施，每年將在德州一些油田附近的空氣中提取一百萬噸二氧化碳。
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
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