Energy mass balanceEquipment sizingCostingCarbon capture
Direct Air Capture (Climeworks-style solid sorbent)
Screening model for Climeworks-style low-temperature solid-sorbent DAC: energy use, modular unit count, and levelized cost per tCO2.
Inputs
Plant nameplate capture capacity (gross) at full availability; actual annual capture is adjusted by capacity factor.
min 100 · max 500000 · step 100 · tCO2/year
Per-tonne cost for compression (if not already included), transport, and permanent storage/mineralization.
All-in electricity price paid by the DAC plant (energy + network + fees as relevant).
min 0 · max 300 · step 1 · EUR/MWh
Average availability/utilization over the year (0–1). Used for annual capture and load penalty.
min 30 · max 100 · step 1 · %
Cost of low-temperature heat for sorbent regeneration (e.g., heat pump, waste heat, district heat).
Used to estimate electricity-related emissions and net CO2 removed. Set near 0 for dedicated renewables.
min 0 · max 1 · step 0.01 · kgCO2/kWh
Real WACC/discount rate used for capital recovery factor (CRF).
min 0 · max 0.2 · step 0.005 · ratio
Economic lifetime used to annualize CAPEX via CRF.
min 5 · max 40 · step 1 · years
Results
Levelized cost per net tCO2 removed
Total annual cost divided by net removal (electricity emissions accounted)
Total installed CAPEX
Scaled specific CAPEX (EUR per tCO2/year) × nameplate capacity
Annual CO2 captured (gross)
Nameplate capacity adjusted by capacity factor
Log in to view this sensitivity chart.
Number of DAC modules
Ceiling of plant nameplate capacity divided by module capacity
Annual electricity use
Availability-adjusted specific electricity consumption
Levelized cost of CO2 captured (gross)
Total annual cost divided by gross annual captured CO2
Total annual cost
Annualized CAPEX + fixed O&M + energy + storage
Net CO2 removed (electricity-related emissions only)
Gross captured minus grid emissions from electricity consumption
About
Calculator context
About
Calculator context
Introduction
This calculator provides a pre-feasibility screening estimate for a Climeworks-style solid-sorbent, low-temperature Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant, producing energy, modular sizing, and levelized cost metrics in EUR. It is intended for early-stage development decisions using public-domain performance and cost ranges commonly cited by IEA and other DAC assessments, combined with standard project-finance methodology.
Methodology
The model is organized into (i) energy/mass balance, (ii) equipment sizing (modular units), and (iii) costing (CAPEX scaling + fixed/variable OPEX + capital recovery).
Key equations (variables in brackets):
- Operating time
- load_hours = hours_per_year · capacity_factor
- load_penalty = clamp(1 + penalty_coeff · (1 − capacity_factor), 1, max_penalty)
- Specific energy (availability-adjusted)
- effective_consumption = specific_consumption · load_penalty
- (applied to electricity and low-grade heat separately)
- Annual capture (production)
- annual_co2_captured = nameplate_capacity · capacity_factor
- Modular sizing
- n_units = ceil(nameplate_capacity / module_capacity)
- CAPEX scaling (screening curve)
- specific_capex_scaled = clamp(capex_ref · (capacity/ref_capacity)^scale_exponent, capex_min, capex_max)
- capex_total = specific_capex_scaled · capacity
- Fixed O&M scaling
- om_fraction_scaled = clamp(om_fraction_ref · (capacity/om_ref_capacity)^om_scale_exponent, om_min, om_max)
- om_annual = capex_total · om_fraction_scaled
- Finance (standard capital recovery factor; widely used in NREL/IEA costing)
- CRF = (r·(1+r)^n) / ((1+r)^n − 1)
- Total annual cost and levelized cost
- total_annual_cost = annualized_capex + fixed_om + electricity_cost + heat_cost + storage_cost
- LCOC = total_annual_cost / annual_co2_captured
Default constants reflect typical solid-sorbent DAC ranges reported by IEA and open literature; users should replace prices and emission factors with project-specific values.
Applications
- Project developer (screening): compare LCOC sensitivity to electricity price and capacity factor when prioritizing sites and offtake discussions.
- Corporate buyer / procurement: estimate order-of-magnitude €/tCO2 for budgetary planning under assumed power/heat pricing.
- Policy / analysis team: explore how grid emissions affect net CO2 removed versus gross captured, highlighting the value of clean electricity/heat supply.
Model
60 variables — inputs, calculations and outputs, with their dependencies.
Model
60 variables — inputs, calculations and outputs, with their dependencies.
| Variable | Value | Unit | Depends on |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36000 | tCO2/year | — | |
| 90 | % | — | |
| 60 | EUR/MWh | — | |
| 20 | EUR/MWhth | — | |
| 20 | EUR/tCO2 | — | |
| 0.25 | kgCO2/kWh | — | |
| 0.08 | ratio | — | |
| 20 | years | — |
| Variable | Formula | Unit | Depends on |
|---|---|---|---|
if(((<=)+((*0.01)<=)+((*0.01)>)+(<)+(<)+(<)+(<)+(<)+(<=))>,,) | bool | ||
| tCO2/year | ||
*(*0.01) | h/year | ||
clamp(+*(-(*0.01)),,) | — | ||
* | kWh/tCO2 | ||
* | MWhth/tCO2 | ||
/max(,) | tCO2/year/unit | ||
* | kWh/year | ||
* | MWhth/year | ||
* | kgCO2/year | ||
/max(,) | tCO2/year | ||
/max(,) | — | ||
*(^) | EUR/(tCO2/year) | ||
clamp(,,) | EUR/(tCO2/year) | ||
/max(,) | — | ||
*(^) | fraction_of_capex_per_year | ||
clamp(,,) | fraction_of_capex_per_year | ||
* | EUR/year | ||
(*(1+)^)/max(((1+)^-1),) | — | ||
* | EUR/year | ||
* | EUR/year | ||
* | EUR/year | ||
* | EUR/year |
| Variable | Formula | Unit | Depends on |
|---|---|---|---|
*(*0.01) | tCO2/year | ||
ceil(/max(,)) | units | ||
/max(,) | MWh/year | ||
- | tCO2/year | ||
* | EUR | ||
++++ | EUR/year | ||
/max(,) | EUR/tCO2 | ||
/max(,) | EUR/tCO2 |
Assumptions
21 assumptions used in the calculations
Assumptions
21 assumptions used in the calculations
Prevents division-by-zero in CRF and intensity calculations.
Market range Not applicable (numerical guard).
0.000001Modeling safeguard constantAvoids inline numeric literals in DSL expressions.
Market range Not applicable.
0Arithmetic identityUsed for (1 - capacity_factor), clamp bounds, and boolean aggregation without inline literals.
Market range Not applicable.
1Arithmetic identityUsed to convert capacity factor into annual operating hours (load hours).
Market range 8760 h/year (standard).
8760h/yearCalendar convention (non-leap year hours)Represents efficiency degradation at lower utilization due to cycling, standby losses, and fixed auxiliary loads (simplified).
Market range0.2Screening assumptionCaps the utilization penalty so effective specific energy does not diverge at low capacity factor.
Market range1.3Screening assumptionOrder-of-magnitude electricity intensity for solid-sorbent DAC (fans, vacuum/blowers, compression auxiliaries depending on boundary).
Market range800kWh/tCO2Public DAC performance ranges (screening midpoint)Low-temperature heat demand for sorbent regeneration (solid-sorbent DAC).
Market range0.6MWhth/tCO2Public DAC performance ranges (screening midpoint)Converts between kWh and MWh consistently.
Market range Exact.
1000kWh/MWhUnit conversionConverts kgCO2 to tCO2.
Market range Exact.
1000kg/tUnit conversionRepresents an indicative DAC module size for translating total capacity into unit counts (not a vendor datasheet).
Market range1000tCO2/yearSimplified modular sizing assumptionRepresents installed CAPEX per unit of annual capture capacity at a reference plant scale, consistent with early-stage DAC plants being capital intensive.
Market range1500EUR/(tCO2/year)Public DAC cost range (screening anchor)Sets the scaling pivot point; chosen to be comparable to early commercial solid-sorbent DAC facilities.
Market range4000tCO2/yearReference scale anchored to early commercial DAC plantsCaptures modest economies of scale (specific CAPEX decreases with larger capacity).
Market range -0.05 to -0.30 (typical process plant screening exponents).
-0.15Parametric scaling assumptionPrevents unrealistic extrapolation of very low specific CAPEX at large scales in a simple power-law model.
Market range500EUR/(tCO2/year)Bounding assumptionPrevents unrealistic specific CAPEX inflation when scaling below reference capacity.
Market range4000EUR/(tCO2/year)Bounding assumptionFixed O&M approximated as a fraction of installed CAPEX to represent labor, maintenance, sorbent replacement (if treated as fixed), and overheads in a simple model.
Market range0.05fraction_of_capex_per_yearScreening fixed O&M fractionReference capacity for O&M fraction scaling.
Market range4000tCO2/yearO&M scaling referenceRepresents slight reduction in fixed O&M fraction at larger scale due to shared staffing and overheads.
Market range -0.2 to 0.0 (screening).
-0.05Parametric O&M scaling assumptionLower bound for fixed O&M fraction to avoid unrealistically low O&M at large scale.
Market range0.03fraction_of_capex_per_yearBounding assumptionUpper bound for fixed O&M fraction to avoid unrealistic escalation at small scale in a simple curve.
Market range0.12fraction_of_capex_per_yearBounding assumption