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The Nonsense of Direct Air Capture (DAC)

 

Carbon Capture: Nonsense or Necessity?
An Update (May 2025)
"Humanity has opened the gates of hell... If nothing changes, we are heading towards a 2.8-degree temperature rise – towards a dangerous and unstable world." These are the warning words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and they should motivate us, as scientists and engineers, to help close this gate. But will carbon dioxide capture from air and industrial flue gas streams help?This lecture will present different approaches and the major industrial players currently involved in this field. Misleading claims and announcements will be exposed.
Direct Air Capture (DAC): Despite strong criticism, the direct capture of carbon dioxide from air is more popular than ever. On January 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy announced funding opportunities totaling over $3.5 billion to develop carbon capture and transport technologies. As a result, DAC-related research is increasing worldwide, driven by the availability of attractive funding.Industrial enterprises such as Carbon Engineering, Climeworks, Global Thermostat, and Halocene are already profiting by selling carbon credits to carbon dioxide-emitting companies. But does large-scale DAC make sense? Will it help fight global warming, or is it merely greenwashing for the oil and gas industry?Using basic physics equations, I will demonstrate that the promises of DAC projects are deceptive and that DAC will not reduce global warming. On the contrary, it even helps to keep the gates of hell open.
Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants: The flue gas from coal-fired power plants contains approximately 300 times more CO₂ than ambient air, making carbon capture from these sources more feasible. Membrane separation, amine absorption, and cryogenic separation are among the technologies used in this application.However, extracting CO₂ from flue gas consumes a substantial fraction of a plant’s energy. By analyzing the available facts, this lecture will demonstrate that post-combustion carbon capture will have little impact on reducing global greenhouse gas emission
Steel, Cement, and Lime Production:  The steel and cement industries account for approximately 14% of global CO₂ emissions. Since the CO₂ concentration in flue gas from these industries is high, membrane separation is one of the most promising capture technologies.However, there has yet to be a commercial CO₂ capture plant for cement production, and only one exists in the steel industry. To achieve meaningful CO₂ emission reductions, separation technology should focus on this sector.

Here is the link with the passcode for the seminar I gave at KAUST on May 13














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