The EU’s first land-based CO2 capture and storage facility will be installed in France

The startups RepAir Carbon and C-Questra announced on Monday the first land-based carbon dioxide removal project (CO2) of the European Union (EU). It is the block’s first ground-based direct airborne capture and storage (DACS) facility. The project will help Europe achieve its ambitious climate goals.

Current DACS solutions They consume a lot of energy and can emit more CO2 than they capture, in addition to causing prohibitive costs at scale. Additionally, these systems use solvents and absorbents that must be replaced periodically, posing potential health and safety risks.

However, the American RepAir’s solution is to not use heat, only electricity, which reduces energy consumption by 70%according to the company. Storage also carries security risks, but the startups claimed that it is safe as CO2 will be stored in underground geological formationssuch as saline aquifers. In addition, there will be an exhaustive monitoring, notification and verification system to guarantee the permanence, security and integrity of the process.

Being an onshore project, it is also cheaper as it eliminates costly offshore infrastructure. will be located near Parisin Grandpuits, where the Dutch C-Questra has requested the relevant permits. The goal is to eliminate 100,000 tons of CO2 per year between now and 2030, with the possibility of reaching megatonnes in 2035.

Southern Europe aims to develop the first commercial-scale CO2 storage center as part of the Mediterranean Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) Strategic Plan, developed by France, Italy and Greece. The project eliminates the need for intermediate and maritime infrastructurestreamlining the process and reducing costs. This partnership follows another major project in Greece.

In a press release, Jean-Philippe Hiegel, Head of Strategy and Growth at RepAir Carbon, stated that “this establishes a new standard for efficient and scalable carbon removal in Europe“.

“The combination of our technology, which uses only 0.6 MWh per ton of CO2 captured, compared to 2.5 MWh for most competitors, and C-Questra’s unique expertise in carbon storage, addresses a key obstacle to widespread adoption of DACS.” And he added that “this is very exciting, given the global decarbonization needs“.

In Iceland a plant of the same features in 2021.