Cryogenic direct air capture of carbon dioxide

Week 4 of post series, "My Favorite Thing I Learned Last Week"

Microsoft is venturing into a novel territory by filing a patent for a "cryogenic direct air capture" system that essentially aims to freeze carbon solid from the atmosphere.

⚙️ How it works:

• Air is drawn into a "recuperative heat exchanger" which cools it down to just above the carbon dioxide's "deposition point."
• This cold air is then exposed to a "deposition surface" cooled by a cryogenic refrigerator, turning CO2 into solid, which is then collected.
• Remaining air is released back, initiating the cycle once more.

💬 Microsoft's stance:

• They emphasize the urgency of capturing atmospheric carbon to mitigate climate change impacts.
• Current "direct air capture" methods are expensive and energy-intensive.
• Their goal: Become carbon-negative by 2030 & neutralize their historical carbon footprint by 2050.

🤔 Expert take:

• Dr. Dan Stein of Giving Green believes the idea is plausible in theory but wonders about its practical application and energy consumption.

📕 Some context:

• Carbon removal is a challenge: Expensive, tough to scale, and potentially requiring vast amounts of land or resources.
• Big Tech, including Microsoft, acknowledges that merely reducing emissions isn't enough. The future lies in viable carbon removal techniques.
• Progress in the fight against climate change needs innovative approaches like this, but can this approach be scaled efficiently?

➡️ Side note:

As a part of my project in my Stochastic Studio course, I've set up an automation pipeline for myself that polls for newly published patents matching certain keywords and then uses GPT-4 to summarize the results. It was pretty satisfying for that pipeline to give me this gem on its first time running!

Sources:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/carbon-capture-and-storage/ https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/10/12/microsoft-fights-climate-change-with-cryogenics/ https://medium.com/@markelitics2022/microsofts-cryogenic-carbon-capture-b594de5999a6

Image created by DALL-E 3