Recognizing that carbon dioxide (CO2) removal is a critical tool for thwarting the worst of climate change impacts, the U.S. Department of Energy has dedicated billions of dollars to explore the potential of direct air capture technologies that can pull CO2 out of the atmosphere.
Regional direct air capture hubs are a key part of Department of Energy’s strategy and are supported with $100 million in Department of Energy investments. Northwestern University is leading one of these hubs with nearly $4 million invested by the Department of Energy and partner companies. The award will be administered through the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy.
The Department of Energy funded projects will work to demonstrate the capture, processing, delivery and sequestration or end-use plans for captured carbon. Called the Midwest Nuclear Direct Air Capture Hub, the Northwestern-led program will unite a diverse group of research and commercial partner institutions to test the feasibility of using a zero-emission nuclear fleet to power air handling units that remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
The Midwest Nuclear Direct Air Capture Hub, which officially started on May 1, is one of only two direct air capture hubs located in the Midwest as well as one of two hubs with plans to harness nuclear energy as a power source.
Funded by the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs Program will accelerate the demonstration and deployment of direct air capture technologies, supporting efforts to create jobs, reduce pollution and reinforce the United States’ global competitiveness in clean energy technologies.
After feasibility testing and engineering are complete, together these hubs are expected to capture 1 million metric tonnes of CO2 annually from the atmosphere. This is 250 times more CO2 than the largest operating direct air capture facility currently removes.
“While we need to amplify efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all economic sectors, given the urgency and severity of climate change we need all options on the table — full speed ahead,” said Northwestern’s Jennifer Dunn, the principal investigator of the project. “These options include direct air capture. We are excited to work with all our MINDAC [Midwest Nuclear Direct Air Capture Hub] partners and the Department of Energy to build a viable carbon capture hub in our region.”
An expert on the environmental impacts of emerging technologies, Dunn is a professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering, director of the Center for Engineering Sustainability and Resilience and a faculty affiliate of the Trienens Institute.
Midwest Nuclear Direct Air Capture Hub’s co-principal investigators are: Ted Sargent, the Lynn Hopton Davis and Greg Davis Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at McCormick and co-executive director of the Trienens Institute; Omar Farha, the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Weinberg; and Brad Sageman, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Weinberg and co-director of the Trienens Institute. Mar Reguant, a professor of economics at Weinberg, will serve as a senior adviser. Ke Xie, a research assistant professor in Sargent’s laboratory, will serve as the hub’s project manager.
“This initiative will make an important contribution as we develop solutions to tackle the global challenge of climate change,” Sargent said. “The issue requires diverse solutions — ones that can be used in combination with one another — and this includes direct air capture. As one of the world’s leading universities in engineering, materials science, chemistry and the social sciences, Northwestern will bring unparalleled expertise to this…
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