280 Earth announced that it has completed construction and started operating a direct air capture (DAC) facility to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the atmosphere, mitigating climate change. 280 Earth’s scale-up of direct air capture technology is led by an investor team such as Builders VC, Gideon Yu, and Alphabet. And the company also announced that it has officially filled and closed a $50 million Series B Round of investment.
The captured carbon dioxide can be permanently sequestered underground or used as a feedstock for industrial uses like synthetic fuels, carbon-negative concrete, or food production.
280 Earth’s facility offers a commercial demonstration of several years of research and development by X, The Moonshot Factory, Alphabet’s innovation lab, to grow and commercialize the unique and low-cost DAC technology. The overall process and purpose of DAC are to achieve carbon dioxide removal and be a “negative emissions technology.”
The International Energy Agency believes that to reach net zero by 2050. We would have to scale DAC to capture more than 980 megatons of carbon dioxide annually.
The first phase of the commercial demonstration facility was designed to capture up to 500 tons per year of carbon dioxide and water from ambient air. The captured carbon dioxide will be liquified and sequestered off-site or used in various industrial processes, while the related water can be used for cooling or other end uses. The facility is extensively instrumented to validate scale-up plans for 280 Earth’s technology as it progresses to a 5,000 tons per year module.
Located in The Dalles, Oregon, 280 Earth’s direct air capture installation maximizes environmental benefits by using electricity with very low carbon content, mainly hydropower on the local grid. And 280 Earth’s low-temperature desorption process can minimize energy consumption by utilizing waste heat from nearby third-party industrial processes. American-based vendors largely manufacture equipment in the facility and is being assembled with significant union labor content.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our first DAC project deploys a very energy efficient process to capture CO2 directly from the air. As a result, our net carbon benefit will be among the best in this rapidly developing industry.”
– Jacques Gagne, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of 280 Earth who invented the technology along with his team
“280 Earth’s technology will be a key contributor to the portfolio of solutions necessary to reduce CO2 in our atmosphere and it’s a strategic advantage to have the financial support and insight of Builders VC and other thoughtful investors to bring this earth changing technology to its commercial stage. We also could not succeed without our local partners including the Port of The Dalles, Wasco County, The City of The Dalles, and the State of Oregon to collaborate in bringing this important project to life.”
– John Pimentel, chief executive officer of 280 Earth
