Mammoth, the largest industrial facility built to date to filter carbon dioxide from the air, has just started operations in Hellisheiði, Iceland. It is operated by the Swiss climate technology company Climeworks, whose customers include JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Stripe and Shopify.
It remains to be seen whether it can repeat this early success in a growing market in the US
Mammoth is the largest DAC system in operation to date. But overall, it’s relatively small compared to other projects in the pipeline. Climeworks’ activities in Iceland were intended to show the world that this technology can work. Now the company must see whether it can repeat that early success in a growing market in the United States.
Orca was the largest DAC system in operation to date. Mammoth will be able to capture nearly ten times as much CO2 as Orca once fully operational, about 36,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. That’s still not a lot of carbon considering Microsoft alone emitted nearly 13 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2022.
But Climeworks and similar climate technology companies have much bigger ambitions in the US. The industry is receiving major political support in the US, as the Biden administration is pouring $3.5 billion in federal funding from the bipartisan infrastructure bill into the development of at least four DAC hubs.
In Iceland, Climeworks’ DAC systems consist of modular “collection tanks” with fans that draw in air. The air flows through a special filter that absorbs carbon dioxide. Once the filter is fully saturated, it is heated to about 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) to release the carbon dioxide. Climeworks is working with the company Carbfix to prevent captured CO2 from re-entering the atmosphere by trapping it in the basalt rock formations of Iceland. They mix the CO2 with water and then pump the mud deep into the earth, where it eventually becomes solid rock.
Climeworks benefits from abundant geothermal energy and natural underground storage in Hellisheiði. This means it can be powered by renewable energy and eliminates the need to build a large pipeline network to transport the captured CO2. This may not apply to hubs in the US, where any plans to build DAC facilities already face concerns about high costs and environmentally harmful energy consumption. DAC companies are also likely to face resistance from local residents to building new pipelines.
Meanwhile, Mammoth is still a work in progress. Currently, only 12 modular containers have been installed at Mammoth, and Climeworks plans to install 60 more to complete construction this year.