Construction begins on 4,000t carbon capture project in Iceland

Ground has been broken in Iceland on the construction of what is set to be the world's largest carbon capture and storage facility to date - removing 4,000 tonnes of CO² from the atmosphere a year.

The plant, named "Orca", will run on geothermal energy - which is abundant in Iceland - and will be the first ever large-scale carbon capture and storage facility, according to Climeworks, one of the companies working on the project.

Orca uses fans to "suck" in air and filter out around 90% of the carbon, which is then mineralised and stored underground.

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Along with Switzerland's Climeworks, which will produce the carbon collectors, is Carbfix, which developed the technology that turns the captured CO² into stone, and ON Power, an Icelandic energy company that produces electricity mostly from geothermal power.

Christoph Gebald, co-CEO and co-founder of Climeworks, said: “Breaking ground on the construction of Orca marks an exciting milestone for Climeworks and an important step in the fight against climate change. 0

"Climeworks’ new plant Orca demonstrates that scalable, pure carbon dioxide removal via direct air capture is possible. And we are excited to be a vital part in kickstarting the carbon dioxide removal industry.”

Construction of the facility is expected to be completed by Spring 2021.

"Due to the modular nature of the Climeworks technology, it is possible to achieve short construction times, which will be a key enabler for scaling the technology in the future," the company said in a press release.

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Once up and running, in addition to emissions reduction efforts, the facility will prevent new CO² from entering the atmosphere. It is anticipated that more carbon capture plants like Orca will be built in the coming few years as countries scramble to reach the targets of the Paris Climate Agreement.

While Climeworks is a privately-funded company, it also seeks an income through a monthly subscription scheme that allows corporations, institutions and individuals to pay for anything from 85kg to 600kg of CO² per year removed from the atmosphere.

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