Carbon Management Technology Conference 2019 (CMTC 2019)

Nuclear Process Heat for Direct Air Capture of CO2

Elevated levels of atmospheric CO2 have encouraged consideration of Direct Air Capture (DAC) and related technologies. Most DAC approaches require very large amounts of process heat (either high or low grade) to scale the technology sufficiently to make a meaningful impact on global climate. We conduct a qualitative review of extant and postulated nuclear reactor technologies, highlighting those with particular potential for use in commonly-advocated DAC processes.