Austria’s newest plant captures CO2 with fraction of usual energy

Austria has commissioned a new Direct Air Capture (DAC) pilot plant called Austrian Pilot Unit 1 (APU1), notable for its record-low energy consumption in capturing atmospheric CO2. The container-sized facility is designed to remove 50 tons of CO2 annually while using less than 2,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per ton—significantly lower than traditional methods. Its modular design allows for scalable deployment, from small individual units to large combined facilities, making it adaptable to various user needs. The key innovation lies in a two-zone process that separates the filtering and regenerating steps into cold and hot containers, respectively. This approach minimizes energy loss by heating only the solid sorbent material (such as amines) during regeneration, rather than the entire equipment, which is a major inefficiency in conventional DAC systems. This breakthrough enables a much more efficient energy balance, positioning the technology as a potentially economically viable and scalable solution for decentralized CO2 capture. The research team aims to scale