4 Companies That Turn CO2 Emissions Into Something Useful

This artist’s rendering shows Carbon Engineering’s design for an ‘air contactor’ to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (Carbon Engineering)
Direct Air Capture technology is now at a point that solar was 20 years ago and set to be the next big thing in green tech.
Large-scale carbon management that will convert CO2 into useful products or divert it safely underground is a growing technology that can greatly help achieve climate stability.

This industry is small but growing. A new carbon economy where CO2 is used manufacture products using clean energy is now feasible.

“These companies and technologies are essentially where batteries were 10 years ago and where solar was 20 years ago. The investment community can smell that. They get that this is the next thing,” Julio Friedmann, a senior research scholar at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and former Obama administration official told Fast Company.

1. Climeworks Direct Air Capture Plants
   Climeworks is doing pioneering work with Direct Air Capture plants, which can be set up virtually anywhere and suck carbon right out of the air. The company recently launched a new pilot plant in Troia Italy where carbon from the air is being turned into carbon-neutral fuel.

Another pilot program that Climeworks along with Carbfix and Reykjavik Energy is involved in, is in Iceland at the Hellisheidi Power Plant. The plant is located about 25 km from Reykjavik. During the plant's pilot phrase, captured CO2 is mixed with water and pumped underground into basalt rock. The solution reacts with the rock and turns into harmless calcite stone. This method stores CO2 safely and permanently underground.

Another Climeworks project near Zurich, Switzerland is capturing CO2 to sell to a neighboring greenhouse which uses the product to make its vegetables grow faster. The company is also in talks with beverage companies that use CO2 in sparkling water or soda. Especially for production plants in remote areas, this industry can be used for job creation