Engineering has begun a project that its developers say could mark a new foray into removing carbon dioxide from the ocean.
The Quebec-based plant would be North America’s first commercial-scale carbon dioxide removal facility, according to startup developers Equatic Inc., based in Los Angeles, and Deep Sky Inc., a Montreal company. They say the facility would remove nearly 110,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually, 10% of which will be emissions from the ocean. It would also produce 3,600 tons of hydrogen.
The plant’s technology uses a seawater electrolysis process developed at UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering’s Carbon Management Institute. The system draws seawater from the ocean into an electrolysis chamber where carbon dioxide molecules are separated from the water and its natural acidity is neutralized. “This, in turn, allows the ocean water to take up more CO2,” says Phil De Luna, Deep Sky’s chief carbon scientist and head of engineering. “These carbon emissions are some of the most difficult to reduce and the most difficult to electrify.”
The extracted carbon dioxide is stored in the form of solid substances based on calcium and magnesium that, according to the company, could be used to produce building materials.
The technology is based on a $20 million demonstration plant, called Equatic-1, which will be commissioned next year in Singapore in partnership with its national water agency, the developers said. The commercial floor will have easy access to the connected ocean. St. Lawrence River, and could tap into Quebec’s massive hydroelectric network.
The facility would use less than 1.4 MW hours per ton of carbon dioxide, with an estimated disposal cost of less than $100 per ton in 2030, according to Equatic. Luna estimates the cost of the project at about $366 million. The plant may also be in line for carbon removal credits under a new U.S. Department of Energy program, Equatic says, noting that those credits, as well as the green hydrogen from this plant and futures “have previously been sold to companies such as Boeing. , and more sales are underway.”
Engineering firm Arup has just started a six-month feasibility study for the plant which is due to start with front-end engineering design work, environmental assessment and permitting, with an estimated final investment decision at the end of 2026.
If confirmed, construction on the 30-acre site would begin soon after, with commissioning expected in 2028. Deep Sky is currently exploring a plant location about 900 km northeast of Mont- real, with a final decision on the site to be made by the end of 2024. says the firm.
