CarbonCure Technologies will permanently store atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) captured by Heirloom’s direct air capture (DAC) technology in its proximate concrete plants.
Under terms of a signed agreement, which runs until 2025, the duo hope to advance the DAC-to-concrete storage pathway that they successfully demonstrated earlier this year.
In February, Heirloom, CarbonCure and concrete producer Central Concrete made history by demonstrating for the first time ever the ability to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and permanently embed it in concrete.
The CO2 was captured at Heirloom’s DAC facility in Brisbane, California. Using CarbonCure’s reclaimed water technology, that CO2 was permanently stored in concrete that was then supplied to construction projects across San Jose, California.
Read more: CO2 from DAC is stored in concrete in first-of-its-kind demonstration
Shashank Samala, CEO of Heirloom, says that the urgency of deploying and scaling removal technologies becomes clearer with each temperature record that is broken. He adds that the extended partnership will help Heirloom to continue scaling up its technology.
Heirloom uses limestone to pull CO2 from the air. Using a cyclic process, the limestone is broken down into calcium oxide rock and CO2 gas using heat from a renewable energy-powered, electric kiln.
The calcium-based material is then spread onto vertically stacked trays where it acts like a sponge – pulling CO2 from the air before it is returned to the kiln and the process begins again. The captured CO2 gas is then permanently stored – either safely underground or embedded in concrete.
To further utilise the process, Heirloom and CarbonCure are also working together following notification of selection by the Department of Energy for a DAC Hub project in Illinois.
Robert Niven, CEO of CarbonCure Technologies, adds, “Ours is a climate solution that puts captured CO2 to good use, permanently storing it and using it to build greener homes, highways, high-rises and more.”
CarbonCure licenses a suite of carbon mineralization technologies to nearly 800 concrete plants across 35 countries. To date, the company’s global network of concrete producer partners has produced more than five million truckloads of carbon-mineralised concrete, removing, and reducing more than 365,000 metric tonnes of CO2.
European CO2 Summit 2024
An adage that captures the great CO2 paradox in one succinct sentence. Yet this paradox in carbon dioxide availability and sourcing is being challenged. How we see CO2 is changing.
CO2 is shifting from by-product and waste disposal to an integral circular value chain in its own right, but is it moving quick enough?
We know that sourcing has to change. We know the CO2 supply chain in Europe is fraught with instability and vulnerability; at the same time, demand continues to grow. We know that decarbonisation brings opportunities, but it could also present threats if invaluable CO2 is taken off the table and lost.
The clock is ticking, which begs the question, if CO2 is there to be captured and the proven technology exists to do that, what needs to happen next?
Join gasworld in Austria in February as we turn the attention to what comes next and an action plan for the CO2 business of tomorrow, at the Europe CO2 Summit 2024.
To attend, sponsor and for more information, visit https://www.gasworldconferences.com/conference/european-co2-summit-2024/
