Equatic CO2 Removal More Wasserstoff
The American green startup Equatic has developed what it believes to be groundbreaking technology for removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the ocean by electrolyzing seawater.
This process produces green hydrogen, which is then used by aircraft giant Boeing as a sustainable fuel.
The initiative aims to combat climate change by addressing the significant amount of CO2 absorbed by the oceans.
Sustainable aircraft fuel
Equatic knows that around 30% of annual CO2 emissions are absorbed by the oceans. Based on this knowledge, the company has developed a technique that extracts the stored CO2 from seawater, releasing green hydrogen in the process.
Gaurav Sant, founder and CEO of the company, who is also a professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the UCLA Institute for Carbon Management, emphasizes the effectiveness of removing CO2 from seawater, which contains 150 times more CO2 than air.
Greentech startup Equatic extracts Co2 from seawater
Electrolysis process: seawater fed through pipe into tank.
In the electrolysis process used by Equatic, the seawater is fed through a pipe into a tank. In this tank, an electrolyser splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The CO2 extracted from the water is mineralized and turns into rock.
The captured CO2 is then stored in underground, depleted gas and oil fields or salt formations. What remains is low-CO2 water, while the separated hydrogen gas can be used as green fuel.
Pilot plants in California and Asia
Two small pilot plants have recently been put into operation on ships to prove the concept works: one in Los Angeles and a similar one in Singapore. Both can remove 100 kilograms of CO2 per day and produce a few kilograms of hydrogen.
At the end of 2024, a larger test plant is to be put into operation in Singapore, which is integrated into a desalination plant and can remove at least 10 tons of CO2 per day or at least 3,500 tons per year.