Context
Icelandic carbon capture company, Climeworks, has officially launched Orca, the world’s largest direct air capture and storage plant that permanently removes CO? from the air.
What is Orca?
- Orca is the world's largest direct air carbon capture and storage plant.
- It is run by Swiss company Climeworks.
- Located in: Hellisheidi, Iceland
- Named Orca, the plant sucks carbon dioxide directly from the air and buries it as rocks deep underground, using technology from Climeworks' Icelandic partner Carbfix.
- Orca has a capacity to capture 4,000 tons of CO? per year.
- CO? will be removed from the air and stored permanently, rapidly turning it into stone underground through a natural mineralization process.
- It is based on advanced modular technology in the form of stackable container-size collector units.
- These units are powerful and compact with a minimal physical footprint, making it possible for Orca to be operational in under 15 months.
- Orca runs fully on renewable energy.
How does it work?
- To collect the carbon dioxide, the Orca plant uses fans to draw air into a collector, which has a filter material inside.
- Once the filter material is filled with CO2, the collector is closed and the temperature is raised to release the CO2 from the material, after which the highly concentrated gas can be collected.
- The CO2 is then mixed with the water before being injected at a depth of 1,000 metres into the nearby basalt rock where it is mineralised.
How many CCS projects are there in the world?
- There are now 51 CCS facilities globally – 19 in operation, four under construction, and 28 in various stages of development with an estimated combined capture capacity of 96 million tonnes of CO2 per annum.
