Cutting-edge direct air capture technology could pave the way for the large-scale reduction of carbon emissions and turn pollution into sustainable new products. A University of Sydney spinout company is exploring this innovative solution towards a cleaner energy future.
鈥淚magine if we could pull billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide directly from the air and transform it into sustainable fuels that power the world and slow climate change,鈥 says Dr Sam Wenger, University of Sydney alumnus, Founder and CEO of Dac Labs.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 science fiction, it鈥檚 what we鈥檙e building right now.鈥澛
As Australia tackles the challenge of reaching ambitious emissions reduction targets 鈥 43 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, net zero by 2050 鈥撯痮ne emerging solution is carbon dioxide removal via .
is a direct air capture manufacturing spinout company, supported by the University of Sydney, which is exploring a cost-effective, energy-efficient way of achieving this.
鈥淓arth's atmosphere now holds more carbon dioxide than at any point in human history,鈥 Sam says. There鈥檚 over a trillion tonnes of excess CO2 in the atmosphere. 鈥淎ll that carbon dioxide remains in the air for up to 1000 years, dangerously warming the planet while it鈥檚 there.聽聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping our technology can change this, because the stakes could not be higher. Climate change is a massive challenge, but bold innovative solutions like direct air capture are one of the many ways to help tackle the problem.鈥
Dr Sam Wenger and his team are developing direct air capture technology at Dac Labs, a University of Sydney spinout company. Photo credit: Alan Richardson.
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LinkDirect Air Capture (DAC) is a technology that extracts carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. It can then either be stored or used to produce carbon-based products, such as aviation fuels and building materials, like concrete and plastics.
DAC allows extraction modules to be built anywhere to remove CO2 from the ambient air 鈥 unlike the perhaps better-known point source carbon capture which happens where the unwanted carbon is generated, such as at fossil fuel power stations or factories, before it reaches the atmosphere. Direct air capture, however, can address CO2 emissions from more dispersed sources of carbon dioxide, such as cars and planes.聽
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鈥淲hat鈥檚 unique about our approach,鈥 Sam says, 鈥渋s it鈥檚 not energy intensive. Right now, capturing CO2 uses huge amounts of energy, making it expensive, slow and not scalable
鈥淚n the most simple terms, we move air through a chemical solution that reacts with CO2 in the air,鈥 Sam says. 鈥淲e obtain CO2 as a pure gas that can be sold to industry for producing sustainable jet fuel and carbon neutral products, such as building materials, beverage carbonation, green chemical production and algae production, which can be used for biofuels.聽
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e essentially doing is building an enormous 鈥榝orest鈥. A forest that doesn鈥檛 burn, can鈥檛 be chopped down and can pull in more CO2 per square metre than any forest on earth.鈥
鈥淕etting to this point involved a lot of trial and error 鈥 prototype after prototype. Right now, our experimental machines are small, but the end point of this project will be huge gigafactories 鈥 the so-called 鈥榤egaforests鈥, I mentioned.
鈥淏y the end of the year, we want to be able to pull in 10 tonnes and then continue scaling up until we鈥檙e pulling megatonnes from the air, every year.鈥澛
The University of Sydney supports researchers to 鈥榮pin out鈥 their research intellectual property into companies, like Dac Labs, through mentoring, funding and advice. This helps researchers to bring their innovations to market and fast-tracks the process of commercialising their research.
鈥淎s a deep tech startup, it can be difficult to secure seed funding from industry,鈥 Sam says, 鈥渟o the University of Sydney has been vital in helping us raise the funds to get going.鈥澛
Professor Deanna d'Alessandro exploring direct air capture technology in the lab. Photo credit: Guy Bailey.
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LinkFor Professor Deanna D鈥橝lessandro, the Director of the University of Sydney鈥檚 Net Zero Institute and Dac Labs鈥 Scientific Advisor, this kind of innovative, entrepreneurial thinking gives her hope for the future.
鈥淲hen I first met Sam as a PhD student, I had a renewed sense of excitement about this industry and the future,鈥 Deanna says. 鈥淗e represents a new generation of scientists who aren't just identifying problems 鈥 they're engineering the solutions we desperately need. What makes Sam unique is he has really thought about a pathway to scale his technology.鈥
Deanna says the potential benefits of direct air capture are vast.
We're building an industry that's on par size-wise with the oil industry, but in reverse 鈥 taking carbon from the air instead of putting it there
鈥淐limate change is a huge problem. We need many solutions working at the same time," Deanna says, "and direct air capture is a very powerful tool to remove greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also improving Australia鈥檚 energy and economic resilience.鈥
鈥淲e're building an industry that's on par size-wise with the oil industry," Sam adds, "but in reverse 鈥 taking carbon from the air instead of putting it there."
鈥淲hat keeps me going is knowing we can solve this problem in my lifetime 鈥 and that I can be part of that history.鈥
Header photo credit:聽Alan Richardson