Running from May 2024 to January 2025, Climeworks has completed the first test phase of Svante’s structured adsorbent technology at its large-scale test facility in Muttenz, Switzerland, marking a major milestone in the validation of its Generation 3 Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology.
The results confirm anticipated breakthroughs: the newest generation of technology cuts energy use in half while doubling CO2 capture capacity compared to the current implementation of Climeworks’ Gen 2 technology in Iceland, maintaining strong performance throughout 1,300+ cycles and across a wide range of real-world conditions.
Ensuring performance and reliability before scaling up
Testing DAC technology at full scale and under real-world conditions is critical to validating performance and durability before large-scale deployment, reducing risks, accelerating learning, and ensuring the technology delivers as promised. While initial results based on in-field observations were shared during the Climeworks Carbon Removal Summit in 2024, these have now been validated across a wide range of temperatures spanning sub-freezing to temperature conditions and humidity environments ranging from semi-arid to fully saturated air.
Crucially, Svante’s structure demonstrated mechanical stability and maintained high performance over time, with results within +/-5 percent accuracy of the performance predictions.
Jan Wurzbacher, Co-CEO of Climeworks: "You can't overstate the importance of rigorous testing before building. With this proof in hand, we can confidently say that our Gen 3 tech is engineered for real-world conditions and real-world impact. By partnering with suppliers like Svante, we're walking the steep DAC learning curve, making it more efficient and more cost-effective with every new technology iteration."
Structured adsorbent as a DAC gamechanger
With Generation 3, Climeworks uses structured adsorbents for its DAC operations. Engineered with precision, the Svante structured adsorbents enable faster CO2 adsorption and desorption, allowing more cycling times while maintaining a low resistance to air flow, all of which are key to driving down energy use while increasing capture capacity per unit. Additionally, Svante’s structure provides greater mechanical stability, thus durability, and has a low CO2 footprint in manufacturing—all major advantages for a DAC system.