Operational within 10 months from first delivery, a modular Direct Air Capture installation by a UK startup has begun permanent removal of carbon for storage underground at a pioneering hub site, in Canada.
Confirmation has been received from Mission Zero Technologies (MZT) that the third deployment of its Direct Air Capture (DAC )technology officially went live this week on-site at Deep Sky Alpha, in Alberta.
Created by Canadian project developer Deep Sky, the pioneering Alpha hub emerging at Innisfail promises to become the world’s first cross-technology carbon-removal innovation and commercialisation centre.
Arriving there at speed and scale, MZT’s containerised system will recover up to 250 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere per year powered entirely by solar energy. The captured carbon will be processed by Deep Sky and stored securely underground, once the Alpha site becomes fully operational later this summer.
Deployment in Alberta constitutes MZT’s third DAC system and first outside the UK, joining two systems already in operation, says Co-Founder and CEO of Mission Zero Technologies, Dr Nicholas Chadwick:
“I am proud to prove a third commercial use-case for our direct air capture technology on a new continent. This third deployment demonstrates that we’ve established an exportable model for scaling internationally.”
The news also marks another milestone for the Alpha hub, adds Deep Sky CEO, Alex Petre:
“An important step for the wider DAC industry, Deep Sky is beginning to operate multiple technologies at its hub in Canada. We are excited to have Mission Zero be one of the first technologies live at Alpha this summer.”
Electricity not heat
Mission Zero Technologies (MZT) is the company behind the UK’s first operational direct air capture (DAC) systems. Since 2020, the MZT team of scientists, engineers and creative thinkers has worked on high-efficiency DAC technology to remove historic CO2 emissions from the atmosphere, at scale.
Backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the XPRIZE Foundation, Stripe, and the UK Government, MZT has since moved successfully and swiftly from lab to multiple commercial plants in under five years.
Breaking with the intense heat requirements common to first-generation solutions, MZT’s electrochemical technology achieves high thermodynamic efficiency compared to other DAC approaches.
Using electricity rather than heat means it can dynamically integrate with local renewable energy sources, which also helps absorb excess generation from solar and wind that might otherwise go to waste.
Furthermore, the cost differential is often substantial — as renewables can be cheaper, by some distance.
More carbon, less cost
Whilst Alberta represents a third deployment, MTZ developed its second DAC facility in partnership with OCO Technology and the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). This is also capable of recovering around 250t of CO2 per year from the atmosphere, but the carbon supply is fully-integrated for direct use by OCO in making carbon-negative limestone at its building materials production facilities.
Meanwhile, the first MZT plant, also located in the UK and developed in partnership with the University of Sheffield, recovers 50t CO2 annually for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
By comparison with the SAF application, the new Canadian deployment represents a fivefold increase in carbon capture capacity, alongside a 60% reduction in cost. This underscores the pace of technical progress since the initial MTZ deployment in 2023, as well as the value of the operational data collected.
Importantly, the third iteration now live in Canada also helps MTZ prove the commercial appetite and easy scalability of its modular offering. Establishing diversified end-use carbon pathways helps de-risk the tech, validating the use-case for ‘off-the-shelf’ components and further consolidating global supply chains.
Tech-agnostic innovation hub
Montreal-based Deep Sky is the world’s first tech-agnostic carbon removal project developer aiming to remove gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere and permanently store it underground.
As project developer, Deep Sky brings together the most promising direct air and ocean carbon capture companies all under one roof, as it were. This enables the largest supply of high-quality carbon credits into the market, significantly commercialising and catalysing carbon removal and storage solutions.
With $130M in funding, Deep Sky is backed by investors from banking, venture capital and climate finance, including: Investissement Québec; Brightspark Ventures; Whitecap Venture Partners; OMERS Ventures; BDC Climate Tech Fund; BMO; National Bank of Canada; and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst.
Further Reading:
- More about UK startup Mission Zero Technologies (MZT) and its modular DAC technologies;
- More about the Deep Sky Alpha hub, in Alberta; from project developer Deep Sky;
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