Deployment of Deep Decarbonization Technologies Proceedings of a Workshop (2019) / Chapter Skim
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7 The Role of Carbon Dioxide Removal in Deep Decarbonization
7 The Role of Carbon Dioxide Removal in Deep Decarbonization
Pages 58-66
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From page 58... ...
Wilcox's presentation focused on direct air capture (DAC) -- a technology which uses chemicals to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.
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From page 59... ...
SOURCE: Jennifer Wilcox, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, presentation to the workshop; from National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019, Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, https://doi.org/10.17226/25259.
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From page 60... ...
While a coal-fired power plant with CCS can capture 1.4 million tons of carbon dioxide per year with a 115-meter-tall absorption tower, a 20 meter by 8 meter by 200-meter-long DAC contactor would only capture 100 thousand tons of carbon dioxide per year.1 Additionally, DAC contactors are expensive, and identifying the best cost reduction opportunities -- such as improving the packing m aterials for solvent contactors or increasing the lifetime of materials for solid sorbent contactors -- will require experience in research, development, and deployment at demonstration and commercial plants. In addition to large footprints, DAC contactors require significant energy inputs to power the fans which draw air through the device, and for heat required to regenerate the solid sorbent or liquid solvent for reuse, the latter of which dominates the total energy cost.
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From page 61... ...
Investing $20 billion in cost reductions to get DAC down to $100 per ton of carbon dioxide removed (from today's benchmark of $600 per ton) would mean building 200 "synthetic forests" each capturing 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to 5 percent of our annual emissions in the United States.
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From page 62... ...
The primary sources of c arbon dioxide emissions are fossil fuel burning (87 percent) and land use changes (13 percent)
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From page 63... ...
Hamburg noted that anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions is only responsible for about half of the net radiative forcing we are seeing today, with anthropogenic methane contributing another 25 percent. He suggested that we think of decarbonization in terms of net radiative forcing, not just carbon dioxide emissions, as the methane budget is a complex, secondary carbon cycle which needs consideration.
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From page 64... ...
DISCUSSION Before breaking for the workshop lunch, Amador told the workshop participants that society will likely need to be deploying carbon removal solutions on a scale of 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year by 2050. Amador urged participants to ponder what actions must be taken today to allow us to scale-up and reach that target within 30 years.
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From page 65... ...
A participant asked, if we capture, transport and sequester carbon dioxide on the scale of 10 billion tons per year by 2050, what is the business case for these activities? Will CCS be a publicly-funded utility like some trash collection services, or does it require a carbon price?
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From page 66... ...
The eastern deciduous forest was cut down wholesale during the 18th and 19th centuries, but was then largely allowed to naturally regenerate resulting in a growing carbon sink that persists today. Hamburg noted that we may soon saturate our available forest sink capacity, and that some projections show that the amount of forest area in the United States will decrease moving forward.
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