Manoel Urbano, Pauini and Boca do Acre, Acre and Amazonas
Brazil
Located in the heart of some of the most threatened forests on the planet and an important biodiversity corridor that connects the Andes to the Amazon, this project was the winner of the best Carbon Offsetting Project of 2020 in the Environmental Finances Voluntary Carbon Awards. In addition to being a safe haven for over 400 species of birds, this project also generates positive social and economic impacts in one of the poorest areas of Brazil.
Background
DAC is a highly scalable solution for atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Removal and plays a crucial role in all scenarios to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
In essence, DAC technology captures CO2 by moving atmospheric air through a CO2-selective filter. Once this filter is saturated, captured CO2 is typically released by heating the filter material, regenerating the CO2 filter for future use. This CO2 can then be stored permanently and safely in underground geological reservoirs, by either trapping it with a cap rock and / or injecting it into reactive rock pores for mineralization, i.e., turning CO2 into rock.
Method
Octavia Carbon has designed its technology to utilize Kenya's unique resources to overcome the challenges associated with DAC’s traditionally high energy intensity. Its proprietary CO2 filter regenerates at 60-70°C, the lowest temperatures in the DAC industry, allowing it to use Kenya’s plentiful geothermal waste heat uniquely well for its process.
Given that this heat energy accounts for ~85% of energy that Octavia Carbon’s approach uses, their method drastically lowers the electricity needed for DAC, and so has the potential to make DAC technology rapidly fall down the cost curve. Leveraging Kenya’s well-educated and abundant workforce, they are also developing their technology at a uniquely modular scale (of just 10 tons of CO2 captured per year in each module).
Project Goals
- CO2e to be removed: 10,000 metric tons over the project’s 10-year lifetime
- Social Impact: Job creation & sustainable development initiatives in local communities whose traditional pastoralist livelihoods are heavily affected by climate change induced drought.
- Education: Establishing a DAC hub in Kenya that will promote extensive research and innovation in the industry. This will be achieved through collaborations with local universities and research institutions, as well as organizing educational workshops and training programs.
More Info
- Project developers: Octavia Carbon x Cella Mineral Storage
- Notable customers: Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund
Additional Information
Octavia Carbon is currently building the DAC capacity for Project Hummingbird by manufacturing at-scale DAC machines. The project will house 100 DAC machines of their latest design, Lenana, which has a capture capacity of 10 tons of C02 per year. These will be installed on site with Cella Mineral Storage from H1-’24, where they will produce CO2 that will be injected as part of CO2 mineralization trials.
From H2-’24, Project Hummingbird will start producing commercial carbon credits. The installed hardware is expected to produce CO2 for safe storage for at least 10 years, so credits are offered up to H1-’34. A substantial portion of the project’s credits, though not all of them, will be on offer on the Cloverly platform.