Our goal is ambitious, but you have to think big: An interview with Climeworks

Switzerland-based Climeworks is re-writing the script in carbon dioxide (CO₂) recovery and reuse. The company has been developing its Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology since 2009 and commissioned its first industrial scale CO₂ capture unit in late 2014, dubbed the ‘CO₂ Collector’ and capturing 50 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

Its plants capture atmospheric carbon with a filter, with air drawn into the plant and the CO₂ within that air then chemically bound to the surface of a sorbent (the filter). Once the filter is saturated with CO₂, it is heated (using mainly low-grade heat as an energy source) to around 100ºC, the CO₂ is released from the filter and collected as a concentrated CO₂ gas which can be purified and delivered as high purity CO₂ for a range of applications.

Now patented, this technology has continued to develop in the last half-decade and Climeworks launched its first commercial plant in Hinwil, Switzerland back in 2017. This historic site on the outskirts of Zurich is now supplying 900 tonnes of CO₂ annually to a nearby greenhouse to help grow vegetables, providing a continuous and renewable source of product.