Climate Tech Visual Presentation CT04: Accelerating the large-scale implementation of new Direct Air Capture (DAC) technologies through demonstration at the Otway International Test Centre (OITC), Australia

Climate Tech Visual Presentation CT04 With the exponential growth of renewable energy generation, Direct Air Capture (DAC) is emerging as an attractive carbon-negative solution. When combined with geological CO2 storage, DAC provides verifiable CO2 removals and permanent storage. DAC is modular technology, making it a scalable option for achieving net-zero emissions. As with all decarbonisation pathways, the rapid deployment of DAC with CO2 storage is critical to meeting global climate targets. While large-scale CO2 injection and geological storage have been safely practised for over three decades, coupling these systems with DAC presents some unique challenges. These include performance variability of DAC units under changing seasonal and ambient conditions, as well as the dependency of DAC processes on intermittent renewable energy supply. CO2CRC’s Otway International Test Centre (OITC) provides world-class infrastructure for the safe storage of CO2 in both saline aquifers and depleted gas reservoirs, supported by advanced monitoring and verification systems. A detailed feasibility and engineering study by CO2CRC has confirmed the suitability of OITC for testing and demonstrating DAC technologies (20–200 TPA) in terms of space, utilities, operational safety, and geological aspects of storage. This paper discusses opportunities and key barriers to the commercial-scale deployment of DAC, and how CO2CRC’s expertise, combined with the upcoming DAC demonstration at OITC, can help overcome these challenges and accelerate the scale-up of DAC with CO2 storage. To access the Visual Presentation click on 'Supplementary data' below. To read the full paper click here