The Carbon Capture Column

Check the bottom of this page for the CCC challenge details.

Intro

The world needs to work on solving the immens amount of CO2 and Methane currently being dumped in the atmosphere. One way is to organize a challenge. We have the X-Prize and other competitions, and they are good. I haven’t yet seen any tangible results from them, and one reason may be that all billionairs are caught in a web of trade and finance that of course makes them dependent on cooperation from people that do not think about the future. Everyone has an excuse.

We are seeing interesting developments in solar power (more like final release of existing solutions) and carbon capture and conversion, for example using H2 and CO2 to make long chain hydrocarbons (jet fuel). This may reduce waste of CO2 (as a concentrated raw material) and help skim some from our atmosphere (which isn’t easy) but whatever you do at the moment, the system is set up (by banks) such that it drives more emissions. CDR credits drive emissions, generated fuel will be burned. Biomass conversion will be burned, generation of H2 effectively wastes 70% of the renewable energy so it too drives emissions, if it is not made from fossil fuels in the first place.

The economy likes to burn sequestered carbon

So there needs to be a clear tweak tot he system to do real carbon capture and sequestration. The way it is proposed now avoids the need for it, the thing is to pump CO2 into the ground. CO2 is not a valuable commodity so the banks don’t see a way this reduces cashflow so this is allowed, also because it can help extract more oil (this is how CO2 pumping is already used), and buy time to sell more fossil fuels. So the economy is NOT interested in that store of CO2.

If you synthesize hydrocarbons, jet fuel than for 100% sure the economy IS interested in that resource. It will be claimed to be a crime against humanity not to use ‘carbon neutral’ fuels, and there’s a point to that. It is a great way to develop the technology as well, because air travel is a major way to generate cashflow with fossil fuels. Generating cashflow is the only thing banks and thus our economy cares about. Really. The only fucking thing.

Extra economic, self sustaining solutions

So while industry is building capacity to generate jetfuel for airtravel, it will be hoarding resources and not reduce CO2 emissions. It will make the installations for generation of jetfuel cheaper. Now the tweak we need to accomplish is to use those installations or installations like them in an Extra-economic fashion. This means outside the control of banks or the economy, away from people that try to exploit the resource created. Making it too energy intensive (what ‘expensive’ means) compared to alternatives to get too, or too deadly.

Extraeconomic activities, those that do not mix with the wider economy, are not necessarily dangerous, the solar panels on your roof are extraeconomic. You installed them, and you sell your power to the grid, but you don’t really have too, and banks do not see cashflow from the energy you generate with them. You own them and nobody is messing with that. You can have extraeconomic homes, streets, cities, regions when it comes to renewables, and you will find you will have to protect them against banks who want you to be dependent and who want to profit of your effort. With carbon capture this can not be the case, banks will force you to sell whatever fuel or other material you create.

So to drive invention and a modular scalable solution I would think we need a kind of colum, which at the top can receive solar energy, and at the bottom dumps carbon in some form, maybe pure carbon soot, maybe jet fuel. It has to have a resonable size, so let’s say 20 foot high and 8 feet by 8 feet (or the size of a shipping container put upright). This gives it about 5 kwP of insolation at the top. It can also have organic matter growing in it, but the point is the sun is on top, the carbon leaves at the bottom, the thing can be lifted up, so in a landscape tiled with these colums a huge layer of carbon grows underneath while the CC Columns rise. This is a lot like the peat forests or swamps of the past, where organic matter constantly added more carbon refuse to the bottom of the swamp or forest floor.

Rules:

The CCC is a 20 foot container volume, either flat or vertical, to be tiled on a flat surface. It does not have to include the container, its just a volume and it may help with logistics. Whoever can design a system in that volume that can capture and sequester CO2 at the lowest resource and practical scale up cost per container wins. Total supply chain analysis and operation manual must be provided for scale up.

• The winner of the design context can now win 5000,-
• The deadline for the design is november 1st 2023
• Every participant will compare their solution to two other entries on relevant metrics to create an overall ranking.
• If you or your group wants to participate please email info@greencheck.nl as early as possible.

Prize money contributers

Frits Rincker 5000,-

If you want to add to the prize money please notify us via info@greencheck.nl