Mission Zero Technologies
Sucking Carbon out of the sky and turning it into jet fuel
I was thinking about the space elevator recently, don’t ask me why, and I was thinking that if you could theoretically build it, why couldn’t we also (theoretically) build a giant CO2 vacuum sucking the CO2 out of our atmosphere and spraying it into that vast nothingness of space. How do we make sure we’re sucking carbon and not oxygen and what’s suspending this vacuum pipe in midair - one end in our atmosphere and one end in space? These are great questions to which I have no answer. But that’s the great thing with passing thoughts - you don’t need to dive too deep and nobody asks you to explain your thinking.
Luckily for you, me and everyone else, smart people are working on a much more reasonable and effective method to suck carbon out of our air.
Let me introduce you to Mission Zero Technologies
Fantastic lead-in Richard but what does Mission Zero do exactly?
Well, I’m glad you asked. Without quite realising it, my aforementioned idea of isolating carbon and sucking it out of air already exists as a technology called Direct Air Capture (DAC).
Rather than siphon it into space, the smart folk at Mission Zero actually funnel that carbon into rocks or jet fuel. Turns out that carbon, being the primary structural element of all known life on Earth, is actually quite useful - you can turn it into lots of things - building material, fuel, vodka. Personally, I’d have gone for the vodka but I feel like Mission Zero, being filled with people smarter than me, probably made the more responsible choice. What do they do with the rocks? Nobody knows but is it a coincidence that this company now exists? I think not. (Want to learn more about DAC? Here’s a fantastic report from Mission Zero)
OK, so they suck carbon out of the air, and then by magic??? turn it into something useful?
Kind of, yes. Except there’s no magic wand but there is a big-ass machine. Said big-ass machine pictured down below..
See those fans on top? They suck in the air and once in, it’s showered with a special liquid that dissolves the carbon. Then electrodialysis moves that carbon through an ion exchange process (yes I know what that is how dare you doubt me dear reader) that transforms that carbon into pure CO2 that can then be immediately turned into the aforementioned vodka (and other useful stuff).
This sounds fantastic in theory but a) is it live and b) how much carbon are we talking here?
Let me show you a video that perfectly answers your questions. Well at least the first one. Yes it is live, with their first machines up and running at The Translational Energy Research Centre at the University of Sheffield turning CO2 into Jet fuel. Check it out below.
Of their other projects coming up, my favourite is Deep Sky, (mostly for the name), in Canada which will pull 250 tonnes of CO2 out of the air each year, mineralise it and store it in rock. Deep Sky is starting small but expects to be removing between 100,000 and 1 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year by the end of the decade.
Fantastic! And who are the geniuses (genii?) behind this?
Here’s the crew behind Mission Zero, Nicholas, Shiladitya and Gaël, two chemists and a chemical engineer who were all separately working on solving the climate issue. Figuring out that DAC was the best method was what brought them together. It was Gaël’s tech insights that ultimately led to the process they’re now leading on.
And they’re not just doing it alone. They’ve raised over $32m from some great investors like 2150 and Deep Science Ventures.
And why is this Optimistic for the future of humanity?
I might stop asking this question in my newsletter because it’s kind of already implied. Sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere is obviously a positive thing. And doing it with technology rather than po-faced degrowth is my favourite way to tackle these kinds of problems.
This doesn’t mean we should all just start fires and celebrate because the CO2 is going to get sucked out of the air into something useful but I think we have to be realistic about people. You are not going to guilt them into donning the hairshirt and reducing their consumption. So we have to find ways - technologically innovative ways - around that. This alongside a changing of power generation methods (renewables, nuclear) will mean things like mass electrification, changing of power grids, working on fusion (coming in subsequent newsletters) and sucking that nasty CO2 out of the sky and turning it into vodka (brand name - Smirnoff Ice Cap, anyone??).
OK, I want to suck carbon out the air and turn it into something jet fuel:
Well wouldn’t you know, I have just the links for you.