Climeworks : CO2 energy
20.12.2013
The systems made by Climeworks extract CO2 from ambient air, at a low process heat of 80-100?C. Using green energy, the extracted gas can be used to produce synthetic fuels that are carbon-neutral and do not compete with food production for agricultural cropland. In addition, the extracted CO2 can be marketed to the food and beverage industry, where it is used for packing fresh food and for carbonation.
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When fuels are burned, CO2 and H2O are the main combustion byproducts. The combustion reaction can be reversed with available industrial technology, and electrical energy can be stored by producing synthetic fuels using CO2 and water as the only inputs. This technology, referred to as Power-to-Gas or Power-to-Liquids, is considered as one of very few viable options for seasonal energy storage that can be deployed on a large scale.
Climeworks started as a spin-off company of the Professorship of Renewable Energy Carriers (PREC) at ETH Zurich, which has been researching CO2 capture from air for more than a decade. Under the supervision of PREC professor Aldo Steinfeld, Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher conducted their masters’ and PhD research on CO2 capture from air. They founded Climeworks based on the results of this research.
Since their venture kick experience, the startup has grown its team from the two founders to a total of nine employees. More than CHF 3 million has been raised, and an initial demonstration plant has been tested. “Venture kick means to strive for the best, constantly stretching and challenging yourself and makes you act rather than react,” says Gebald.
The nine-member Climeworks team is making progress, step by step, on this challenging journey. A prototype has been in operation at the company’s facilities at the Technopark in Zürich since December 2012. “The data is slightly better than we expected,” says Wurzbacher. Now the ETH spin-off is making plans with pilot customers for its first industrial scale systems.
Climeworks is planning to launch a second financing round that will end in February 2014 to commission an industrial CO2 capture plant that can generate 1,000 tons of CO2 per year. It should be operational in early 2015, and the CO2 it extracts will be available for sale to customers.