The fight against climate change is at the forefront of most of the world’s agendas. US President Joe Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement on his first day in office and laid out a plan to reach a net zero-emissions economy by 2050.
Sustainability, cutting emissions and reducing waste are only one small part of the solution, and yet few have actually been able to implement them in an effective way. That’s partially because, in order to make a dent, these solutions have to be implemented on a wide scale. One Israeli-German green-tech company named High Hopes says its carbon capture and storage solution will not only help mitigate climate change, but effectively reverse it.
Currently, carbon capture and storage are very expensive. Switzerland’s Climeworks currently operates in 14 locations and has large factories processing ambient air and separating out the carbon, but its solution costs between $600 and $1,000 per ton and doesn’t predict a price drop below $250 per ton. There are billions of tons of greenhouse gases in the air. The price plus the amount of carbon needed to be extracted isn’t feasible.
The current cost of carbon capture stems from the long, intensive process that goes into it. First, large fans are used to draw in air. Then carbon dioxide is captured on the surface of a filter. The capsule is closed and heated to 80℃-100℃ and releases a concentration of CO². The CO² must then be compressed to around 70 atmospheres and sent underground for geosequestration—where over years, the compound will turn into stone. Eran Oren, Chief Scientist of High Hopes, figured out a way to circumvent the costs of this not-so-efficient solution.
High Hopes, on the other hand, is hoping to start pricing around $100 per ton, with the goal of being able to reach $50-60 per ton with scale, which would make it the cheapest carbon-capture solution on the market. How does the company plan to bring down the price so significantly?
Using balloons and high altitudes.
High Hopes leverages the colder temperatures in high altitudes to scale carbon capture, sending balloons into the sky to capture the carbon and bring it down to the ground. Carbon typically freezes around –80℃, and once it is frozen into dry ice – similar to snowflakes – capturing the gas is much easier. The temperatures at high altitudes can be as low as minus –70℃. This means the payload of the company’s balloons doesn’t need to work as hard to freeze the carbon and extract it from the atmosphere as it would on the ground, where temperatures are much warmer.
Once the load is full, the pressure and warming temperatures on the way back to the ground turn the carbon back into condensed gas that can be sent straight for geosequestration. And the company is able to do this with off-the-shelf technology. The balloons and carbon-capture rigs needed already exist – they just need to be put together and sent into the air.
The company recently came out of stealth mode, on Earth Day, letting the world know its future plans to save the planet. High Hopes currently has a lab in Germany, where it is already testing prototypes and capturing carbon from the air.
“Our company is growing by the day, as we continuously recruit talent from leading enterprises and generate significant cooperation with strategic partners,” Oran said. “Once the balloons are active, we are aiming to capture one metric ton of carbon per balloon per day.”
Sounds like they are going to need a lot of balloons.