Orca (carbon capture plant) explained

The Orca carbon capture plant is a facility that uses direct air capture to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (The name, "Orca" comes from the Icelandic word, "orka" which means "energy".[1] It was constructed by Climeworks and is joint work with Carbfix, an academic-industrial partnership that has developed a novel approach to capture . The plant uses dozens of large fans to pull in air and pass it through a filter. The filter is then released of the it contains through heat. The extracted is later mixed with water and pushed into the ground, using a technology from Carbfix.

The plant started sequestering carbon dioxide in 2021. It is said to have cost between $10–15 million to build.[2] It is located in Iceland and is the largest facility of its kind on earth.[3] [4] [5] It is located about 50 kilometers outside Reykjavík next to the Hellisheiði Power Station, which is run by Reykjavík Energy.[6] It was inaugurated on 8 September 2021 in presence of Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the Prime Minister of Iceland.

Carbon offsetting potential

Climeworks claims that the plant can capture 4000 tons of per year.[7] [8] This equates roughly to the emissions from about 870 cars.[9] It counts Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the reinsurance company Swiss Re as current customers.[10]

The thousands of tons of carbon dioxide being removed is owed to the nearly 20 direct air capture plants currently functioning in the world. As the world's climate climbs towards 2 degrees Celsius, more technology is needed desperately to sustain our climate, preventing it from reaching severe temperatures.[11]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: September 20, 2021 . Carbon capture and storage plant becomes operational in Iceland . April 6, 2024 . UNESCO.
  2. Web site: Agence France-Presse. 2021-09-09. World's biggest machine capturing carbon from air turned on in Iceland. 2021-12-26. the Guardian. en.
  3. News: 8 September 2021. World's biggest machine capturing carbon from air turned on in Iceland. The Guardian.
  4. News: 18 September 2021. The world's biggest carbon-removal plant switches on. The Economist. 16 September 2021.
  5. News: Birnbaum. Michael. 8 September 2021. The world's biggest plant to capture from the air just opened in Iceland. 16 September 2021.
  6. News: Brown. Chris. 30 October 2021. In Iceland, can a revolutionary new process actually help stop global warming?. 30 October 2021.
  7. Web site: The next step towards a climate-positive world: Orca!. 2021-12-26. climeworks.com.
  8. News: 2021-09-13. World's largest plant capturing carbon from air starts in Iceland. en. Reuters. 2021-12-26.
  9. Web site: Agence France-Presse. 2021-09-09. World's biggest machine capturing carbon from air turned on in Iceland. 2021-12-26. the Guardian. en.
  10. News: Hook. Leslie. 2021-09-08. World's biggest 'direct air capture' plant starts pulling in . Financial Times. 2021-12-26.
  11. Okonkwo . Eric . AlNouss . Ahmed . Shahbaz . Muhammad . Al-Ansari . Tareq . November 15, 2023 . Developing integrated direct air capture and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage systems: progress towards 2 °C and 1.5 °C climate goals . Energy Conversion and Management . 296 . Elsevier Science Direct.

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