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Carbon Removal Technologies
Global warming and climate change have one main culprit: carbon dioxide (CO2), a potent greenhouse gas that regulates Earth's temperature. This molecule absorbs and emits infrared energy, crucial for maintaining a balanced climate. While natural mechanisms like forests and oceans act as "carbon sinks," absorbing CO2, our current activities overwhelm the Earth's capacity. Carbon removal technologies actively extract CO2 from the atmosphere, using different mechanisms and processes, to reduce atmospheric levels and foster a sustainable and resilient planet.
At Parallel Carbon, we have developed a technology that will allow us to affordably remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere while producing clean hydrogen, relying only on water, wind, sunshine and abundant minerals.
This is a limestone rock, calcium carbonate. These minerals have been sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for thousands of years, but they can’t cope with the excessive amounts we are injecting into the air. To give them a helping hand, we have designed a process that accelerates ancient mineral reactions with a bit of electricity.
Mineral Carbonation
Our process starts by placing hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide) powder on trays; these minerals will capture CO2 from the air, changing their chemistry and transforming into limestone. Traditional processes using calcium require high temperatures to extract CO2 and regenerate the capture powder; instead, we have designed a method that uses an innovative water treatment process, based on a pH-swing.
Aqueous Processing
Inside of a tank, we add a concentrated acid to limestone powders, which will liberate the CO2 gas and generate a calcium-rich “soup”; then we add a concentrated base, allowing the mineral powders to precipitate and be ready to be arranged in trays for carbon capture all over again.
Water Electrolysis
The concentrated acids and bases that are used in this process are produced by a new kind of water electrolyser, powered by intermittent renewable energy. Inside this water electrolyser, we use energy to break the water molecule into acids and bases. With the same electrons and at the same time, we produce clean hydrogen, which is a fundamental part of decarbonising industries.