Amsterdam-based Skytree plans to build a large machine in Iceland that draws in outdoor air and filters out carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
Fans push air through filters whose materials bind to CO₂, then release the cleaned air.
The project is backed by a €1 million loan from state investor Invest International and should start operating in 2028.
Pipes will carry captured CO₂ to businesses including greenhouse growers, food producers and chemical companies.
CO₂ for industry
Iceland’s low-cost renewable electricity would allow the filters to run continuously.
Skytree plans to build similar sites, called Skyparks, elsewhere.
Installations are already operating in Switzerland and the United States, but the technology remains expensive and is currently used on a limited scale.
Because CO₂ makes up about 0.04% of air, the machines must process huge volumes to capture useful amounts.
Limits of air capture
TNO is also testing air-capture methods and helping companies develop systems; Eindhoven start-up Carbyon is working on a thin filter that absorbs CO₂.
TNO does not see the technology as a substitute for cutting emissions, especially in heavy industry.
Dutch climate scenarios mainly use capture and storage in empty gas fields for emissions still hard to prevent in 2050.
