Researchers at the University of Delaware have demonstrated a lab-scale carbon-capture device that uses a battery-like electrochemical process to move carbon dioxide across a cell and release it as a separate gas stream. The team says the approach could use less energy than systems based on filters that must be heated to release captured CO₂, potentially reducing the cost of capturing it from air.

The nine-cell prototype used about 0.8 megawatt-hours of electricity per tonne of CO₂ captured, compared with around 1.5 to 3 megawatt-hours per tonne at current direct-air-capture facilities. The researchers estimate an initial pilot plant could cost about $566 per tonne; extrapolating to a plant with 1,000 times its capacity, they project a cost of $92 per tonne. Those figures are projections rather than demonstrated commercial costs, and the article notes that ambitious scale-up estimates have proved difficult for other companies to achieve.