Direct Air Carbon Capture and Sequestration: How It Works and How It Could Contribute to Climate-Change Mitigation
Open accessAbstract
Owing to the small quantity of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) that can be emitted before we exceed the 1.5°C–2°C target of the Paris Agreement on climate change, we are increasingly likely to require ways of removing significant CO 2 from the atmosphere. In addition to the biological options considered to date such as afforestation and bioenergy with CO 2 capture, direct air carbon capture and sequestration (DACCS) is emerging as a potentially important synthetic CO 2 removal technology. Here, we explain how DACCS works, focusing on two major processes that have been developed into large-scale pilot plants. We discuss cost estimates and operational energy requirements, as well as ecological and ethical considerations. We highlight the role of DACCS in the low-carbon transition by discussing its benefits, while also noting potential trade-offs and uncertainties that deserve further investigation.
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Both absorption and adsorption processes for direct air carbon capture and storage require thermal energy to regenerate the sorbent and release the CO2; however, less energy is required under the adsorption route.
“Both processes require thermal energy to regenerate the sorbent and release the CO 2 ; however, it is important to note that less energy is required under the adsorption route (Gambhir and Tavoni 2019).”
From Strategies for mitigation of climate change: a review (2020) · cites this paper as Gambhir and Tavoni 2019
Direct air carbon capture is three times as energy-intensive as conventional carbon capture per ton of CO2 removed.
“Direct air carbon capture is three times energy-intensive compared to conventional carbon capture per ton of CO 2 removed (Gambhir and Tavoni 2019).”
From Strategies for mitigation of climate change: a review (2020) · cites this paper as Gambhir and Tavoni 2019
Direct air carbon capture and storage is more energy- and material-intensive than carbon capture and storage because capturing CO2 from ambient air is more difficult than capturing CO2 from highly concentrated flue gas streams.
“Gambhir et al. compare direct air carbon capture and storage to carbon capture and storage and explain that the former technology is more energy-and material-intensive due to the fact that capturing CO 2 from ambient air is much more difficult compared to capturing CO 2 from highly concentrated flue gas streams.”
From Strategies for mitigation of climate change: a review (2020) · cites this paper as Gambhir and Tavoni 2019
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An inter-model assessment of the role of direct air capture in deep mitigation pathways
Realmonte, G., Drouet, L., Gambhir, A., Glynn, J. D. M., Hawkes, A. D., Köberle, A. C., & Tavoni, M. (2019) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-019-10842-5 · Cited by 548 · see citing works
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Strategies for mitigation of climate change: a review
Fawzy, S., Osman, A. I., Doran, J., & Rooney, D. W. (2020) · Environmental Chemistry Letters · doi:10.1007/s10311-020-01059-w · Cited by 1,522 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gambhir, A., & Tavoni, M.
- Affiliations
- Imperial College London (GB)
- RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Gambhir, Ajay
- Venue
- One Earth
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-12
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 405-409
- ISSN
- 2590-3322 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2995273538
- Cited by
- 153
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 9
- FWCI
- 8.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- One Earth (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Virtual Community of Pathological Anatomy (University of Castilla La Mancha) (submittedVersion)
- Spiral (Imperial College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Carbon Dioxide Capture Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › CO2 Sequestration and Geologic Interactions
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate Change and Geoengineering
- Keywords
- carbon dioxide removal, climate change mitigation, Paris Agreement 1.5°C target, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, afforestation, cost estimate, ecological impacts, ethical considerations, low-carbon transition
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