The world’s largest plant designed to suck carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into rock began operating Wednesday, the companies behind the plant said.
The plant, called Orca, according to the Icelandic word “orka” meaning “energy”, consists of four units, each consisting of two metal boxes, looking similar to the containers used for shipping.
Built by Switzerland Climeworks and Iceland Carbfix, when in operation at capacity, the plant will attract 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air every year, according to companies.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this equates to emissions from about 870 cars.
To collect carbon dioxide, the plant uses fans to suck in air into a manifold, which has a filter material inside.
The Orca plant. (Climeworks)
Once the filter material is filled with CO2, the collector closes and the temperature rises to release CO2 of the material after which the highly concentrated gas can be collected.
The company2 it is then mixed with water before being injected to a depth of 1,000 meters into the nearby basaltic rock where it is petrified.
Proponents of so-called carbon capture and storage (CCS) believe that these technologies can become an important tool in the fight against climate change.
However, critics argue that the technology is still prohibitive and can take decades to operate on a large scale.
© France-Presse Agency