Norwegian CO2-capture firm Removr is part of a consortium that has been granted $3 million to conduct feasibility studies for a Direct Air Carbon Capture hub in the US Pacific Northwest.
The grant was awarded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to a coalition of 13 public and private entities to conduct Phase I work for a large-scale direct air capture hub, called Ankeron Carbon Management Hub. The hub will be located in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia River Basin and aims to develop and scale the highest-potential technologies to increase the adoption of carbon dioxide removal, utilization and permanent underground storage.
“The broad coalition of leading carbon removal research, technology and governmental organizations mean the project will cover the whole carbon removal value chain. The hub demonstrates significant advancement in work to develop solutions that can remove carbon from the atmosphere at scale, which is necessary to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees. For Removr, the hub represents a high scientific integrity, resource-efficient entry to the US, the world’s most attractive DAC markets,” says Einar Tyssen, CEO of Removr.
The Ankeron hub, to be located in eastern Washington state and Oregon, is novel in several aspects: community engagement, clean energy deployment and innovation. The Ankeron hub consortium takes a community-first approach to project design and governance, in support of local communities and the policy goals of Justice40 and the DOE’s Carbon Negative Shot. The hub will also drive the development of additional renewable energy production. Finally, the hub will support innovation in carbon management by deploying a range of novel DAC and carbon utilization technologies.
The grant is a part of the ? 3.5 billion funding the US government will direct towards regional Direct Air Capture (DAC) initiatives as part of the wider energy transition.
Partners in the Ankeron DAC Hub include entities such as Carbfix, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Rocky Mountain Institute, Washington State University, Fluor Corporation, AES and Lanzatech.
“We are particularly pleased to partner with leading companies across the value chain as well as the DOE as we continue to scale our company to take a leading position in DAC globally. Thanks to abundant renewable power, a geology that is uniquely favorable to carbon storage, and strong local R&D partners, Eastern Washington and Oregon are a fantastic location for a DAC hub,” adds Mr. Tyssen.
Removr’s technology’s uniqueness lies in its being water-free, energy-efficient, and able to capture CO2 from low concentrations, down to atmospheric levels. The process runs entirely on renewable electricity and is flexible on siting which makes it highly scalable.
The Ankeron Carbon management Hub is one of several strategic initiatives in our Removr’s strategy. The company’s technology is currently on its fourth pilot, with a 50-ton-per-year DAC plant currently being operated by technology partner GreenCap Solutions of Norway. In February 2023, Removr announced its first industrial pilot. Financed through Norway’s first-ever grant to DAC, the pilot will commence operations in 2024 at the world-leading carbon capture Technology Centre Mongstad. The pilot will also test the technology’s applicability for low-concentration CO2 point source capture.
Removr follows a stepwise approach to scale its technology and aims to bring its first one-million-ton plant into operation before the end of this decade. While Removr has development projects in Norway and Iceland, which are highly attractive launch pads for DAC, the US is currently viewed as the most attractive location for large-scale DAC due to strong government incentives including USD 180 tax credit per ton of CO2 stored and regional support programs for DAC hubs.