Canada built the world’s largest CO2 extraction plant

Equatic is building a CDR facility to amplify the mechanism of the ocean acting as a carbon sink, helping to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Interesting Engineering The company demonstrated the technology at two pilot plants in Los Angeles and Singapore. Equatic’s approach to CDR involves running an electric current through seawater. The process splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen, creating an acid and a base as byproducts. The carbon is stored in the water in solid form. The alkaline water produced in the process is used to absorb more carbon from the atmosphere using cooling towers. Another advantage of the process is that the hydrogen produced can be sold separately or used to operate the facility.

The plant Equatic is building in Singapore, which can handle 4,000 tonnes of CO2, is expected to be operational by the end of this year. Meanwhile, Equatic’s commercial-scale project in Quebec aims to handle 109,500 tonnes of CO2 and produce 3,600 tonnes of green hydrogen annually. The company can achieve this goal with an energy requirement of less than 1.4 MW per tonne of CO2 removed.

Oceans are among the world’s biggest absorbers of human carbon, removing up to 25% of carbon emitted each year. Studies show that if replicated, the process could help remove billions of tons of CO2 from Earth’s atmosphere. This will be a key tool to mitigate climate change because cutting greenhouse gases is not enough to stop the planet from warming. Humans need proactive measures to remove carbon. Equatic’s technology is the world’s first commercial-scale implementation of CDR.

Researchers estimate that removing a ton of CO2 from the atmosphere will cost $230 to $540 by 2050. Because Equatic’s technology also allows it to make money by selling hydrogen, the company estimates it could remove carbon for as little as $100 per ton by the end of the decade. Additionally, Equatic says its Singapore plant will be equipped with a seawater desalination plant to filter out any marine life before it enters the facility.