- Home
- Companies
- Nellie Technologies Ltd
- Products
- Nellie - Direct Air Capture (DAC) ...
Nellie - Direct Air Capture (DAC) Technology with Biochar Production
Nellie employs a proprietary bioengineered Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology developed at their Mwyndy Cross site in South Wales, UK. This technology utilizes photobioreactors (PBRs) to cultivate microalgal biomass, which absorbs CO2 from ambient air, releasing oxygen and sequestering carbon. The process is supported by numerous patented and pending innovations in biomass growth and photonics. Post-cultivation, the biomass undergoes pyrolysis—a high-temperature process absent of flame—to produce PhycoChar®, a stable biochar product. PhycoChar® stores carbon securely and is used as a soil additive in agriculture, with potential future applications as a biogenic aggregate in construction and steel industries. Nellie's DAC technology contributes to significant carbon dioxide removal (CDR), representing a pivotal step in addressing climate change.Nellie has designed, developed and deployed a proprietary bioengineered Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology from our site at Mwyndy Cross, South Wales, UK.
We grow microlagal biomass in an array of machines called photobioreactors (PBRs).
As the biomass in our PBRs grows, it uses available CO2 in the ambient air inputs. It releases the oxygen and keeps the carbon locked away.
We've designed and built these machines ourselves and they contain a litany of patented (and patent pending) innovations in biomass growth and photonics propagation.
We then dehydrate this biomass and put it through a pyrolysis machine (which heats the biomass to a very high temperature in the absence of a flame so the carbon stays inside).
The output of this system is a product called biochar which is a highly stable way of locking this carbon away for a very long time. We call it PhycoChar® and you can find out more (and how to get some) here.
In doing all of this, we have taken excess CO2 from the atmosphere and stored the carbon part away for thousands of years.
Our PycoChar biochar goes into the local agricultural supply chain where it's used as a soil additive and biofertliser.
In the future, our sustainable PhycoChar will also be used as a biogenic aggregate in the construction and steel industries.
When carbon dioxide is removed from ambient air sources (or, directly from the air, if you will) it's commonly known as Direct Air Capture (or DAC).
But should it be? Maybe it's direct air removals or direct carbon dioxide removals?
We like the term carbon dioxide removals (CDR) for the process of removing carbon dioxide from ambient air inputs but who are we to define this? What really matters is that we're getting on with the job of fixing the climate so we'll let those with more time on their hands define the acronyms.