The cost of direct air capture and storage can be reduced via strategic deployment but is unlikely to fall below stated cost targets

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is necessary to minimize the impact of climate change by tackling hard-toabate sectors and historical emissions. Direct air capture and storage (DACS) is an important CDR technology, but it remains unclear when and how DACS can be economically viable. Here, we use a bottom-up engineering-economic model together with top-down technological learning projections to calculate plant-level cost trajectories for four DACS technologies. Our analysis demonstrates that the costs of these technologies can plateau by 2050 at around $\$$100-600 t-CO2-1 mainly via capital cost reduction through aggressive deployment, but still exceed the optimistic targets defined by countries such as the US…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy
• DF
  Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK Government
• NF
  Norges Forskningsråd

  Award: 294766
• HE
  HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme

  Award: 299659
• EA
  Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council
• BF
  Bundesamt für Energie

  Award: Horizon2020