Throughout 2023, NETL has taken steps to advance direct air capture (DAC) technologies to remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, a vital step in achieving decarbonization in addition to carbon capture from emission sources.

DAC technologies pull CO₂ directly out of the ambient air in contrast to point source capture processes that capture the greenhouse gas at power plants or industrial facilities. While point source capture will need to be effectively deployed as part of decarbonization efforts, DAC technology will be critical for capturing emissions from hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as agriculture, shipping and aviation and for addressing legacy emissions.

While DAC is more challenging and more expensive than point source capture due to the low concentration of CO₂ in ambient air (only 400 parts per million), DAC has flexibility in terms of location. A DAC plant can be situated in any location that has a low-carbon energy source to power its operation and accessibility to a secure CO₂ storage resource or conversion opportunity.

The Lab’s DAC Center at its Pittsburgh campus is a one-of-a-kind facility dedicated to supporting private sector technology maturation by using National Laboratory competencies and knowledge through collaborative research efforts. The NETL DAC Center aims to accelerate the commercialization of innovative DAC technologies that are technically and economically viable to achieve the nation’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

The NETL DAC Center will be a comprehensive center to help partners — universities, research institutions and businesses developing DAC technologies — leverage NETL’s facilities and expertise to test innovative DAC technologies.

In October, NETL experts took part in the Global Direct Air Capture Conference at Columbia University in New York City. The gathering brought together global leaders and innovators who are working to develop DAC as a robust, cost-effective and environmentally just technology to remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. David Luebke, technical director of NETL’s DAC Center, served on a panel that discussed DAC research, development and demonstration priorities.

This year, the Lab launched a four-year plan to develop a process that integrates expertise from the NETL’s extensive materials design, computational materials design, computation fluid dynamics, and process system design research portfolios to advance a cutting-edge technology that will remove CO₂ from the atmosphere via DAC contactors.

Active DAC contactors use fans or blowers to move the air through the adsorbing materials during the adsorption step. Due to the energy cost of moving large volumes of air across the contactor material, it is important that the contactor geometry allow for quick sorption from the air without creating resistance to the air flow, which would increase the energy required. A unique advantage of the NETL sorbent is that it can be formed into many shapes, such as wet-spun fibers, flat sheets or electro-spun into porous fiber mats. The team at NETL is using a collaborative process to develop the sorbent into a low-cost contactor geometry that will lead to an efficient and low pressure-drop adsorption process.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By using its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.