GE Successfully Exhibits a Sustainable Direct Air Capture System for Eliminating CO2

The system is a unique technological approach that combines GE's expertise in heat exchangers, thermal management, and innovative materials. This Direct Air Capture (DAC) system is just one part of the larger effort by GE's CAGE Lab in Niskayuna, NY, to provide state-of-the-art solutions to capture CO2. The CAGE Lab employs over 50 engineers and scientists who work closely with the U.S. Department of Energy, ARPA-E, and other industry and university partners on projects to promote decarbonization solutions. GE intends to conduct several bigger scale demonstrations of their technology starting in 2024.

On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, GE announced that it has triumphed in testing their initial Direct Air Capture (DAC) prototype model for carbon dioxide (CO2) elimination within the laboratory. As a result of this accomplishment, GE aims to conduct more extensive demonstrations in 2024. GE Research and the GE Vernova company have been working together closely with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E), as well as other industries and academic research partners to accelerate advancements regarding CO2 elimination.

GE is showcasing its advancements in Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology at the 2023 ARPA-E Innovation Summit in Washington D.C. The summit, which is happening this week, will cover important themes such as reducing carbon emissions, expediting the use of renewable energy, and promoting electricity as a primary source of energy. GE executives will be discussing these topics with over 2,100 eminent energy experts from various places across the country and around the world. In addition to DAC, GE will present more than twelve other technologies.

According to David Moore, who leads the Carbon Capture Breakout Technology team at GE, their latest lab triumph is the result of over two years of hard work. They've been focused on building a first-rate team, both inside the company and with external partners including the DOE, ARPA-E, industry leaders, and academic institutions. Moore believes that establishing a collaborative relationship between these groups is key to achieving an economical, commercially-viable Direct Air Capture (DAC) solution. He's optimistic that their strategy is on track and that a successful outcome could be achieved by the end of the decade.

GE's team that focuses on carbon capture technology has created a distinctive direct air capture (DAC) system. This team has many years of experience in creating solutions for thermal management and heat exchangers for their turbines and jets. They have combined their knowledge of chemistry and materials to make advanced sorbent materials for capturing CO2. With the DAC system's thermal management design, it creates the perfect environment for the sorbent materials to remove CO2 from the air. The team is also applying similar methods to a project with DARPA to produce clean drinking water from dry, desert air.

Engineers and scientists from GE have teamed up with many different organizations, like the DOE, ARPA-E, UC Berkeley, U. of South Alabama, TDA Research, and more to develop advanced sorbent materials and thermal management technologies. Their main goal is to increase the effectiveness of these systems and make them more widely available.

The DOE and ARPA-E are supporting many projects related to DAC. One of these projects is the AIR2CO2 Contactor project, which has received $2 million of funding from the DOE's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. The unique system design of this project is being further developed with the help of the DOE and ARPA-E. GE is also involved in other key projects related to sorbent and integrated material system technologies for DAC being led by TDA Research and UC Berkeley. In addition to government funding, GE is investing in the development and advancement of sorbent-based carbon capture solutions as a promising pathway for the energy transition.

The photo shows a group of over 50 engineers and scientists who are a part of GE's Carbon Capture Breakout Team. They are presently situated at GE's research campus in Niskayuna, NY, performing experiments in GE's CAGE (Climate [email protected]) Lab. Recently, they concluded the testing of their initial Direct Air Capture (DAC) prototype unit in this lab. As a result, the research center has now become a significant research hub for GE's extensive plan to create decarbonization technologies.

GE's Climate [email protected] Lab

GE is putting a lot of effort into creating a strong DAC solution, as part of their overall commitment to finding ways to decrease carbon emissions. The CAGE Lab is the main place where they are doing this research, and it's also a big hub for the company's broader commitment to decarbonization. They are working on other things there too, like finding ways to capture carbon after it's been created and also extracting water from the atmosphere. All of these things are part of their overall goal of figuring out how to create zero-emission technologies and solve other climate change challenges.

The CAGE Lab possesses a complete set of equipment for analyzing and evaluating the physical structure, features, and effectiveness of sorbent materials. They have introduced the CAGE Dashboard, which is a database that consists of data analytics and machine learning technology utilizing scores of external and internal materials from GE. This cutting-edge tool is aimed at driving innovation in the creation of new and advanced sorbent materials. The lab has further custom-designed several dynamic testing facilities to evaluate the capabilities of sorption breakthrough and cycling, capturing carbon, and extracting atmospheric water under realistic operating conditions.

GE Research is the place where innovation and research come together to create revolutionary results. Our team consists of highly skilled individuals with expertise in the field of science, engineering, and marketing. We work at the forefront of technology, combining physical and digital technologies to solve complex problems across various industries. Our main goal is to create pioneering products and solutions that will revolutionize the world. To know more about how we achieve this, check out our website at https://www.ge.com/research/.

David Moore, who is the Breakout Technology Leader for Carbon Capture at GE, stated that creating a cost-effective and large-scale solution for Direct Air Capture (DAC) could only be achieved through a joint venture between the government, businesses, and academic institutions. By working together, there could potentially be a commercially-viable DAC remedy available by the latter part of the current decade.