Context

The Mammoth direct air capture and storage plant, operated by Swiss company Climeworks, has recently launched in Iceland. 

• Carbfix is the storage partner of Swiss company Climeworks.
• Objective: Climeworks aims to scale up its operations to megaton capacity by 2030 and gigaton capacity by 2050.

About Mammoth Plant

It is the world’s largest direct air capture plant.

• It is designed to extract carbon dioxide (CO₂) directly from the atmosphere.
• This plant is 10 times larger than Climeworks’ previous plant, Orca.
• The Mammoth Plant is operated by Swiss company Climeworks.
  • It is located in Iceland and has a nominal CO₂ capture capacity of 36,000 tons per year when fully operational.
    • This capacity is nearly four times the amount currently being captured globally.
• Operational features
  • The plant takes advantage of Iceland’s geothermal power.
    • It comes from the Hellisheiði power station operated by ON Power.
  • Use of giant fans: Mammoth uses large fans to pull air into a collector containing filter material.
    • When the collector is full, it is sealed, and the temperature is raised to release the captured CO2 from the material.
      • This process makes it possible to gather  highly concentrated gas.
    • Role of carbfix: Carbfix, an Icelandic company specializing in CO2 storage, mixes CO2 with water and injects it 1,000 meters deep underground.
      • The CO2 mixes with basalt rock underground and turns into stone over about two years through a mineralization process. 

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Reasons behind Critics of the Mammoth Plant Technology

Critics of the Mammoth Plant technology raise several concerns:

• Limited Impact as a Climate Change Solution

  • DAC is not a replacement for reducing emissions: While DAC can play a role, experts emphasize it cannot replace the need for rapid and large-scale emissions cuts.
  • Implausibly large-scale capture unrealistic: The International Energy Agency (IEA) cautions that relying on capturing unrealistic amounts of carbon is an illusion because 
    • According to IEA report estimates,  the world would need to capture an immense amount (32 billion tonnes) of carbon annually  to keep global heating under 1.5C.

• Technical and Environmental Challenges

  • High electricity demand: Currently, 45 million tonnes of carbon is currently captured worldwide each year so scaling up DAC to capture significant amounts of carbon would put immense pressure on electricity supplies. 
  • Potential harm to marine ecosystems: OceanCare criticizes the use of seawater in DAC, fearing negative impacts on ocean habitats due to large-scale water extraction.

• High Cost

  • Current DAC technology is expensive: Critics argue that capturing carbon with direct air capture (DAC) technology is too expensive.
    • Existing DAC plants, like Climeworks’ Orca plant (a smaller version of Mammoth), are evidence.
      • OceanCare reports the cost of Orca capturing CO2 is over $1,000 (€929) per tonne.