CO2 Vacuum Cleaner Filters 1000 tons/y out of the Air

(ETH Zurich, July 01, 2013)

ETH-Zurich spin-off Climeworks is looking to filter carbon dioxide out of the ambient air and sell it to major customers such as greenhouses at competitive prices. In the past four years, Climeworks has developed its equipment from the lab scale of a few grams to adsorb several kilos of CO2 per day. The first pilot plant is now up and running: "We were able to markedly improve the system's design and energy efficiency", explains Co-Founder Christoph Gebald. The equipment is expected to filter up to 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide out of the air a year by 2014. Unlike other cleantech start-ups, Climeworks’ business model is not based on climate compensation payments for CO2 sequestration. Instead, the company expects to draw its profits from the sale of the gas to large-scale consumers such as greenhouses.