A NextGen student team working with CarbonCapture Inc. presented this January 2025 final deliverable for OpenMinds on what it will take to scale direct air capture (DAC). David Brown, Isabelle Dunning, Yingxiao Zhang, Cesar Lasalde and Frank Agwuncha examined costs, scaling scenarios, policy and CarbonCapture's Project Bison.
Key points
- DAC is energy-intensive, needing 7.2 to 8.8 GJ per ton of CO2, and costly, with capture costs from $90 to $600 per ton.
- Three scenarios range from 2 million tons captured by 2030 with low adoption to 100 to 200 million tons by 2030 with aggressive adoption, when costs could fall to about $100 per ton.
- CarbonCapture's move of Project Bison from Wyoming to Louisiana shows how energy access, infrastructure and climate shape where DAC projects are built.
- The team recommends keeping 45Q storage tax incentives, investing in CO2 transport and storage, and granting Class VI well permitting authority to more states.
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