Making buildings carbon sinks

Direct air capture of carbon dioxide is often associated with large filter machines piled one on top of another and moving large volumes of air. Large contact points are required due to the small concentration of carbon dioxide in the air and because of the large daily production targets of these plants.

As air is pushed in the filter, carbon dioxide and moisture are trapped or adsorbed. When the filter is saturated with these compounds the machine is closed and regenerated via vacuum and heating to collect the CO₂ and water. Moisture is condensed leaving pure CO₂ for compression.

The concept

Soletair Power delivers solutions for capturing CO₂ in air supplied to building ventilation. The same adsorption and regeneration principle is used in our system to capture carbon dioxide but the dimension is compact. The captured CO₂ is integrated inside an electrolyzer and synthesis unit, where it gets converted to fuels or other hydrocarbons.

Our Approach

Many factors govern the design of ventilation systems, Soletair Power’s ventilation-integrated CO₂ capture system is designed to work within these established design requirements. The system is aimed to meet the ventilation speed typically in m³ sec^-1 and the customers preferred indoor CO₂ level measured as parts per million or ppm.

For a standard ventilation unit handling 3.3 m³ sec^-1 our CO₂ capture system will have a dimension of 3 m (L), 2 m (W), and 2 m (H) and can produce 47 kilograms of carbon dioxide per day. Due to the space limitation in the HVAC room, the system’s piping, and dimension can also be modified to fit the customer’s specifications.

Visual outlook of our system installed in an HVAC room

Below is an example of the visual outlook of our system installed in an HVAC room.  The system can be installed as a turn-key solution or can be assembled on site. The latter is especially suited to building retrofit installation where the access path to an HVAC system can be limited.

The system has a modular design principle therefore it is easy to install multiple units if required.

The conversion of the CO₂ to fuels or other hydrocarbons is done in a separate room in the building. Carbon dioxide from the CO₂ capture system is piped to this room.

For more information: 

Petri Laakso
CEO, Partner | Tel. +358 40 544 5646 | petri.laakso@soletairpower.fi
or
Cyril Bajamundi
CTO, Partner | cyril.bajamundi@soletairpower.fi