The Heirloom Carbon direct air capture plant in Tracy, California, which opened last November. HEIRLOOM CARBON

For keeping an eye on the captured carbon trail, thanks to Nicola Jones:

As Carbon Air Capture Ramps Up, Major Hurdles Remain

Aided by tax breaks and carbon credits, scores of plants are being developed or are now operating that remove CO2 from the air. Such facilities are considered necessary to limit global warming, but critics have questions about the high costs and where the captured carbon will go.

Texas is by far the top emitter of greenhouse gases in the United States: The oil-rich state releases twice as much carbon dioxide as the runner-up state, California, and as much as the entire country of Germany.

But the air in Texas may soon get a slight reprieve. Last April, the Texas-based company 1PointFive broke ground on a direct air capture facility called Stratos that, by 2025, aims to absorb 500,000 metric tons of atmospheric CO2 each year. That’s 125 times more CO2 than the next-largest direct air capture plant.

The concept of direct air capture has been around for decades. In the face of skyrocketing global temperatures and CO2 levels, the idea is simple: remove some of that CO2 from the air and either bury it underground or turn it into a saleable product. After years of lab tests and experiments, these efforts started to gain commercial traction a few years ago. Now, direct air capture is seriously ramping up, with about 20 plants in operation across Europe, Canada, and the U.S., where the Department of Energy is funding four regional direct air capture hubs. Globally, more than 100 plants are at some stage of development.

Though the concept is simple, there are still plenty of hurdles. Building and operating an air capture plant is about 50 times more expensive than planting trees per ton of CO2 taken up. Researchers are working hard to come up with new materials and systems to lower that price tag, encouraged by government prize money and rising tax breaks and carbon credits…

Read the whole article here.