• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Engineering Designer Magazine

Engineering Designer

  • Home
  • Technology
  • Education
  • Sustainability
  • Materials
  • Medical
  • Construction
  • Advertise
  • iED
You are here: Home / Sustainability / Irish company unveils world’s first commercially viable passive carbon-capture technology

Irish company unveils world’s first commercially viable passive carbon-capture technology

April 22, 2022 by Geordie Torr

Dublin-based company Carbon Collect has unveiled its first commercial-scale device for capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Dubbed MechanicalTree, the device is based on proprietary technology developed at Arizona State University (ASU) by Professor Klaus Lackner, director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions (CNCE)and Carbon Collect’s chief scientific adviser. According to the company, the MechanicalTree acts like a tree that is thousands of times more efficient at removing CO2 from the air. The device allows the captured gas to be sequestered or sold for re-use in a variety of applications, such as synthetic fuels, enhanced oil recovery or in the food, beverage and agricultural industries.

Advertisement

Unlike other existing carbon-capture technologies, the MechanicalTree can remove CO2 from the atmosphere without needing to draw air through the system mechanically using energy-intensive devices. Instead, the technology is passive, using the wind to blow air through the system, making it a passive, scalable, low-cost (less than US$100 per tonne at scale – the lowest in the industry) solution. Carbon Collect said that if deployed at scale, the technology could significantly reduce atmospheric CO2 levels, helping to combat global warming.

‘The situation has got to the point where we need to stop talking about [global warming] and start doing something about it,’ said Lackner. ‘Carbon dioxide is a waste product we produce every time we drive our cars or turn on the lights in our homes. Our device can recycle it, bringing it out of the atmosphere.’

Advertisement

Each MechanicalTree contains a stack of sorbent-filled discs. When the tree-like column is fully extended, the discs spread apart. Air flowing through the devices comes into contact with the discs’ surfaces, where CO2 gets bound up with the sorbent. During regeneration, the discs are lowered and the CO2 is released from the sorbent, collected, purified and processed. The discs are then redeployed to capture more CO2.

Carbon Collect plans to deploy clusters of the devices, comprised of 12 columns, which will be capable of removing a tonne of CO2 from the air per day. It hopes to eventually scale up to CO2 farms in multiple locations, each capable of removing up to 3.8 million tonnes of CO2 annually.

Advertisement

‘Our goal is to accelerate the global climate effort set out in the Paris Agreement to contribute to reversing global carbon emissions in the next 10–15 years,’ said Pól Ó Móráin, CEO of Carbon Collect. ‘Our passive process is the evolution of carbon-capture technology which has the ability to be both economically and technologically viable at scale in a reasonably short time frame.’

Filed Under: Sustainability, Technology

Primary Sidebar

SUBSCRIBE And get a FREE Magazine

Want a FREE magazine each and every month jam-packed with the latest engineering and design news, views and features?

ED Update Magazine

Simply let us know where to send it by entering your name and email below. Immediate access.

Trending

New research could unlock the potential of bladeless wind turbines

Fog harp gets an upgrade

Rethinking design creativity through generative AI

Rice University students win global design contest with cutting-edge haptic wristband

A new metal design for solid-state batteries

Engineers explore the use of robots in chemistry labs

New design brings zero-emission aviation a step closer

Researchers develop ultrasonic wireless battery charging technology

New algorithm promises improved joint designs

Academic develops digital tool with the potential to transform traditional product testing

Footer

About Engineering Designer

Engineering Designer is the quarterly journal of the Insitution of Engineering Designers.

It is produced by the IED for our Members and for those who have an interest in engineering and product design, as well as CAD users.

Click here to learn more about the IED.

Other Pages

  • Contact us
  • About us
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • Institution of Engineering Designers

Search

Tags

ied

Copyright © 2025 · Site by Syon Media