Stacks of noisy equipment the size of shipping containers, domes, and zig-zagging silver pipes rise above the dark, mossy lava plains.
The world’s largest direct air capture (DAC) facility is located 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.
Climeworks, a Swiss corporation, developed Mammoth.
It’s been functioning for two months, vacuuming global-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and depositing it deep down, where it turns to stone.
Twelve collector containers have been built thus far, but 72 more will be added in the next months to surround the vast processing hall.
“That will enable us to capture 36,000 tons of CO2 every year,” Climeworks’ chief commercial officer, Douglas Chan, told the news.
The objective is to reverse emissions that have already been released into the environment.
Each collector unit is equipped with a dozen strong fans capable of sucking up enough air every 40 seconds to fill an Olympic swimming pool.
“The technology relies on sucking in lots and lots of air, slowing it down so that the filter can capture it, and then venting the air back out the end,” according to Mr. Chan.
