Heirloom Carbon Technologies is the first commercial plant in the United States to use direct air capture to vacuum greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and permanently seal them in concrete in order to combat climate change. Their facility in California’s Central Valley uses limestone to absorb carbon dioxide from the air and then douse it with water and spread it onto large trays where it turns into limestone again. The leftover calcium oxide is mixed into concrete, mineralizing the carbon and preventing it from escaping into the air. Heirloom will then sell carbon removal credits to companies such as Microsoft, which has already signed a deal to offset 315,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using this technology.
Direct air capture is an emerging technology that has gone from science fiction to big business, with many companies, including Heirloom, planning to build larger plants in the United States. While it is currently an expensive process, the scale of the carbon removal needs and the potential for greater innovation in the space are drawing the attention of public and private sectors alike. Initiatives for verifying and purchasing high-quality carbon removal credits are also part of efforts to build confidence in the market. Heirloom has stood out by publicly pledging to abstain from investments from oil and gas companies, distinguishing themselves from leading players in the field that are integrating direct air capture with continued fossil fuel production.
As nations have delayed cutting greenhouse gas emissions for so long, the use of direct air capture has been identified as a crucial tool in fighting climate change. The company’s small facility outside of Tracy, California, opening Thursday, aims to absorb around 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year and the goal is to increase that number to millions of tons per year. Although the process is energy-intensive, Heirloom is working on using renewable power sources and other efficiencies to bring down costs and make the technology more scalable in the near future.
