CDR technologies, what are they?

The integrity of nature-based carbon credits has been under constant scrutiny. It reached a new height with a recent publication on the Guardian. As a proponent of nature-based carbon credits, I disagree with extreme journalism that trash talks nature-based carbon credits. Meanwhile I also agree that planting trees alone won’t get us to net-zero by 2050. As stated in WEF’s Digital VCM report, nature-based carbon credits generated from conservation and restoration projects are good short-term solutions, in the long run, we need more permanent solutions – entering Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies. These are technologies that remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and then store for a long period of time.

There are a few types of CDR technologies, among which Direct Air Capture (DAC) is a better known approach. Others include Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), Biomass with carbon removal and storage (BiCRS), enhanced weathering and carbon mineralization.

Direct Air Capture (DAC)

DAC removes CO₂ directly from the air and store or reuse it. There are two types of DAC technologies: liquid and solid DAC. Liquid DAC involves passing air through a chemical solution to remove any carbon dioxide. When air moves over these chemicals, they trap CO2 and allow the other components of air to pass through. With solid DAC, CO₂ is captured in a filter system. The trapped CO₂ will then be permanently stored deeply underground thereby achieving CDR. Two notable players in this space include Climeworks and Carbon Engineering. As more resources have been directed to fight climate change, more DAC companies have born in the past a few years including US-based Heirloom and UK-based Mission Zero Technology.

• Climeworks: Founded in 2009 in Switzerland, Climeworks is a leader in DAC technology. Its Iceland plant is currently the biggest in the world and employs a form of solid direct air capture using filters. In 2022, it raised CHF 600 million led by institutional investors Partners Group and GIC to scale its capacity. The company aims to reach multi-megaton capacity by 2030 and be on track to gigaton capacity by 2050.

• Carbon Engineering: Founded in 2009, Carbon Engineering is a Canadian-based DAC technology company. It uses a form of liquid direct air capture and is working with partners to develop the world’s first large-scale DAC facility. Aside from DAC + storage solutions, it also develops AIR TO FUELS^TM technology that delivers near carbon-neutral synthetic fuel. Collectively, it has raised $110 million from Air Canada, Airbus and Bill Gates.

• HeirLoom: Founded in 2020, Heirloom is an emerging DAC technology company that aims to utilize natural resources to engineer a DAC solution. Like Climeworks, Heirloom also uses CO₂-absorbent materials to suck carbon from the air. Unlike Climeworks, HeirLoom uses limestone and a kilin to accelerate a natural process that sequesters the carbon into the stone. Raised $55 million from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund in 2022, HeirLoom aims to remove 1 billion ton of CO2 by 2035.
    
• Mission Zero Technology (MZT): Based in the UK, Mission Zero is developing a low-cost, heat-free, decentralized direct air capture (DAC) solution. Its proprietary technology involves an ion-selective electrochemical separation process that is energy efficient and easy to deploy. MZT has raised $5 million last year from Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Anglo America to scale its R&D activities as well as accelerating commercial delivery.

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)

BECCS generates renewable electricity whilst capturing and permanently storing CO₂, delivering negative emissions. BECCS is the only CDR technique that can also provide energy. One of the major players in this category is Drax Global.

Drax Global is a renewable energy company with operations in the UK, US and Canada. The Drax power plant in the United Kingdom is the largest biomass-fired power plant in the world. What I find more interesting about this company though, is its strong financials. Unlike many other CDR technology companies that are still in pilot phase, at inception of commercialization, Drax is profitable with a very healthy debt ratio.

Biomass with carbon removal and storage (BiCRS)

The term BiCRS describes a range of processes that use plants such as algae to remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and store that CO₂ underground or in long-lived products. One portfolio company of Stripe Frontier fund that develops BiCRS solutions is Arbor. Charm Industrial is another one that utilize biomass waste (from farming) to remove carbon permanently. Charm uses plants to capture CO₂ from the atmosphere. It then converts biomass waste into a stable, carbon-rich liquid and then pumps it deep underground. Cellulosic biomass already captures CO₂ naturally. Charm collects it and puts it through a process called fast pyrolysis to amplify the natural process.

Enhanced Weathering

Weathering is the natural chemical breakdown of rocks that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Enhanced weathering is a process that aims to accelerate natural weathering utilizing technological processes. One of the climate tech working on it is Travertine. Its proprietary electrochemical process permanently converts carbon dioxide into a mineral while simultaneously producing sulfuric acid–the world’s most-produced chemical–for use in critical element extraction and fertilizer production.

Enhanced Mineralization

Similar to weathering, carbon mineralization is a natural process to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However the process can often take decades if not longer. CDR companies develop technological solutions that accelerate this natural process to become 100x or even 10,000x faster.

44.01 is one of the companies develops a technology to accelerate the process to mineralize CO₂ in a matter of months. By the way, for readers who are interested to learn more about the technology, I highly recommend visiting the “how it works” page to see the visual illustration.

At the end

Even in the most optimistic case, carbon emissions can’t be eliminated 100%. To reach net zero goal by 2050, CDR technologies play an indispensable part. While the recent acceleration is encouraging, the planning is still falling short of what’s required in the net-zero scenario. Take DAC for example, according to IEA, “even if all planned projects were to go ahead, DAC deployment would reach around 5.5 Mt CO₂ by 2030; this is more than 700 times today’s capture rate, but less than 10% of the level of deployment needed to get on track with the Net Zero Scenario. ” There is still a long way to go.