An Irish company that builds systems for extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere hopes to begin supplying its first customer later this year.
Co Waterford-based NEG8 Carbon builds towers that capture the gas so it can be stored underground or possibly used.
Founder Ray Naughton said at the weekend the company has agreed to supply a Canadian business, Deep Sky, which plans to deploy the Irish company’s technology later this year.
Deep Sky is building direct air capture farms, groups of tower’s such as those made by NEG8 Carbon, which extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so it can then be stored underground.
These facilities will play a part, alongside renewable energy and measures, as the battle against climate change continues, according to Mr Naughton.
“Governments are fixated on reducing the rate of emissions,” he said. However, Mr Naughton points out that this is not an option in some industries, including farming, which poses specific problems for Irish efforts to cut greenhouse gas output.
With the Republic facing potential €20 billion-plus fines for missing emissions targets, Mr Naughton argues that his company’s systems could be deployed to aid the State in tackling this.
NEG8 Carbon’s towers can be built anywhere, as they simply extract the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.
Storing the gas is the next step. He explains that there are several potential options, one is to store it in disused fossil fuel reservoirs, such as the Kinsale field off the south coast, or in natural underground features.
Another is the EU’s Northern Lights project, which intends to ship captured carbon to disused fossil fuel wells in the North Sea for storage.
The EU has pledged to build terminals here to facilitate the transport of captured carbon, probably in Cork.
Mr Naughton said the company could locate its towers at the terminal, eliminating the need to move it by road.
According to Mr Naughton, carbon’s uses include converting it to rock so it can be used in building materials, sealing it up for all time.
Scientists are researching mixing it with hydrogen to create synthetic aviation fuel, which would recycle existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, not add to it, when it burns.
Mr Naughton said that the carbon in the atmosphere totals 420 parts per million, which international efforts aim to cut to 350.
“For every 100 parts per million, there is a 1 degree increase in temperature,” he said. “There is a direct correlation between this and global warming and climate change.”
