New Iceland plant scales up CO2 removal from air

A Swiss start-up on Wednesday unveiled its second plant in Iceland sucking carbon dioxide from the air and stocking it underground, scaling up its capacity tenfold with the aim of eliminating millions of tonnes of CO2 by 2030.

Dubbed Mammoth, the plant lies just a few hundred metres from its little sister Orca, a pioneering facility opened by Swiss start-up Climeworks in September 2021 in the middle of a moss-covered lava field about a half-hour drive from the capital Reykjavik.

Here, 12 containers similar to those used in maritime transport are stacked up against a backdrop of mountains.

In recent days, fans in the containers began drawing in ambient air and releasing it, largely purified of CO2, through vents at the back. It’s all done through a chemical process, and powered by the nearby geothermal plant ON Power.

By the end of the year, 72 units will be installed around the plant where the captured CO2 is compressed and dissolved in fresh water before it is injected under high pressure into the basalt rock underground, locking away the main culprit behind global warming.

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