New facility aims to convert 150 tonnes of CO2 into natural gas per year

It is not enough to stop pumping carbon dioxide into the air to minimize the effects of global warming. We must also start removing some of the carbon dioxide we have already put there. The Swiss start-up Climeworks has just started to operate this facility in Italy that sucks carbon dioxide from the air and converts it into natural gas.

Climeworks has been collecting atmospheric carbon dioxide for a few years. In 2017, it launched the world's first negative-emission power plant by equipping an existing geothermal power plant in Iceland with a CO2 collection facility. This facility uses the excess heat and electricity from the geothermal power plant to capture the CO2 from the air and bury it in the ground.

The new installation of Climeworks works in much the same way, but with some major differences. Instead of burying CO2 in the soil, the Italian plant combines carbon with hydrogen produced in a renewable way to produce methane. This methane can be used in the same way as any other natural gas except that it is carbon neutral.

Perhaps the biggest problem with capturing carbon dioxide is finding a way to pay for it. Without any government tax credit, there is no way to bury CO2 in the soil and take advantage of it. This new approach offers Climeworks a way to develop its technology and remove some of the carbon dioxide from the air, while generating profits.

Currently, the plant can extract about 150 tons of carbon dioxide a year from the atmosphere. The installation is also modular, which means Climeworks can easily add more sensors and increase production quickly. For the good of the whole planet, let's hope it works.