CarbonCapture will demonstrate a fully commissioned 12-reactor Leo Series module today at an unveiling event outside of Los Angeles. Guests include a wide range of industry stakeholders and speakers.
Adrian Corless, CEO of CarbonCapture Inc., said, "The Leo Series represents a major achievement for CarbonCapture. We've now developed a manufacturable product, built a full commercial supply chain, and established a facility for mass production—the combination of which allows us to introduce cost-saving improvements very quickly while also scaling up production. We're seeing robust demand for our modules from both our company-owned projects fueled by carbon removal credit sales and external project developers."
The Leo Series incorporates structured sorbents that enable each module to capture over 500 tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year. Due to its open systems architecture, modules can be upgraded throughout their life with higher capacity sorbents as they are released, minimising obsolescence risk and driving down costs over time.
"What CarbonCapture Inc. is doing with its modular approach to direct air capture, and efforts to ramp up production of the technology and bring down costs, underscores the indispensable role of the private sector in developing and deploying carbon management at a scale needed to achieve a clean energy and industrial future," said Brad Crabtree, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. "Achieving our climate goals will require a domestic industrial renaissance, and CarbonCapture Inc. is a great example of the kind of homegrown, U.S.-based manufacturing that is central to President Biden's Investing in America agenda."
Designed for mass production
By developing and mass-producing modular DAC systems that can be strung together in large arrays, CarbonCapture aims to rapidly drive down the cost of atmospheric carbon removal. The solar industry provides a clear precedent for how economies of scale can lead to substantial cost reductions; over the past two decades, the cost of solar photovoltaic modules has plummeted by over 90% primarily due to advancements in high-volume manufacturing, increased production volumes, and enhanced efficiencies.
Nick Ellis, a Principal at Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, commented, "As co-founders of The Climate Pledge—with a goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040—Amazon's first priority is to implement decarbonization strategies through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other emission elimination strategies. We also invest in companies like CarbonCapture, who aim to accelerate the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We look forward to continuing to work with CarbonCapture to navigate the challenges ahead of managing rapid growth, navigating complex supply chains, and adapting to a fast-changing landscape—all areas where Amazon can share our expertise."
By producing DAC modules at scale, CarbonCapture intends to use cost-savings such as bulk purchasing of raw materials, streamlined manufacturing processes, and the amortization of R&D costs over large numbers of units. This approach is expected to significantly reduce the per-unit cost of the company's DAC modules and make them more accessible for widespread deployment.
CarbonCapture's 83,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona, was chosen after an exhaustive nationwide search due to its central location, availability of clean energy, and workforce readiness. In addition to supplying DAC modules to third-party carbon removal developers around the world, the high-volume facility will have the production capacity needed to supply Project Bison, the company's megaton-scale carbon removal project in Wyoming, as well as the Southwest Regional Direct Air Capture Hub, both of which are supported by grants under the DOE's $3.5 billion Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program.