09/17/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/17/2024 16:20
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• Sept. 17, 2024Jun Shi
Lead process researcher
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Jun Shi
Lead process researcher
4 min read
• Sept. 17, 2024I'll never forget where I was on Valentine's Day this year. That's the day we started up the direct air capture (DAC) pilot project at our manufacturing site in Baytown, Texas.
I'm the lead process researcher for this project, which is directly supported by about a dozen ExxonMobil scientists, engineers, researchers and operators.
We were eager with anticipation that February morning as we finalized our checklist and initiated start-up. Moments later, when control room monitors showed the unit was working as planned - removing carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules directly from the air - we all burst into cheers.
We were excited because negative-emission solutions like DAC could play a big role in meeting the world's net-zero goals. Now, with our pilot up and running, the team could embark on its bigger mission: to improve DAC technology and - most importantly - bring down its cost.
For a chemical engineer like me, it's thrilling to tackle a real-life challenge with potentially huge benefits for society. I'm excited to share some of what we've done and learned so far.
For those unfamiliar with DAC, here's how it works:
So while the world advances emissions solutions like low-carbon hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and low-emission transportation fuels (all of which ExxonMobil is working on), DAC holds the promise of removing the CO2 those solutions may not be able to reach. One of my colleagues likens it to the "clean-up hitter" in baseball.
Since February, our DAC pilot team has been hard at work studying our processes to gain insights into what we believe is our unique approach to DAC. While it's still early days, these findings are an important first step - because success here could be a springboard to direct air capture at a much larger scale.
Here are four things I can share:
It's good we're moving fast on DAC. As our CEO Darren Woods has said, DAC is the "holy grail" of emissions technologies, but to be commercially viable, its cost needs to come down - by at least 50 percent from today's range of $600-$1,000 a ton. The key challenge is that atmospheric CO2 is very dilute: you need to process about 2,000 tons of air to capture just 1 ton of CO2.
But what if we could find a way to do it more efficiently?
That's why at its heart, DAC's an engineering challenge. And it's one reason why I think this is an amazing time to pursue an engineering career.
Solving the world's energy and climate challenges will require minds skilled in chemistry, material science, engineering and process development. The challenges that today's generation of young engineers tackle in their careers might differ from traditional engineering problems, but the fundamentals are the same - and the opportunities to make a difference are huge.
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