energy_mass_balanceequipment_sizingcostingother
Screening model for Climeworks-style low-temperature solid-sorbent DAC: energy use, modular unit count, and levelized cost per tCO2.
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
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
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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
Calculator context
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.
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):
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.
21 assumptions used in the calculations
Prevents division-by-zero in CRF and intensity calculations.
Market range Not applicable (numerical guard).
Avoids inline numeric literals in DSL expressions.
Market range Not applicable.
Used for (1 - capacity_factor), clamp bounds, and boolean aggregation without inline literals.
Market range Not applicable.
Used to convert capacity factor into annual operating hours (load hours).
Market range 8760 h/year (standard).
Represents efficiency degradation at lower utilization due to cycling, standby losses, and fixed auxiliary loads (simplified).
Caps the utilization penalty so effective specific energy does not diverge at low capacity factor.
Order-of-magnitude electricity intensity for solid-sorbent DAC (fans, vacuum/blowers, compression auxiliaries depending on boundary).
Low-temperature heat demand for sorbent regeneration (solid-sorbent DAC).
Converts between kWh and MWh consistently.
Market range Exact.
Converts kgCO2 to tCO2.
Market range Exact.
Represents an indicative DAC module size for translating total capacity into unit counts (not a vendor datasheet).
Represents installed CAPEX per unit of annual capture capacity at a reference plant scale, consistent with early-stage DAC plants being capital intensive.
Sets the scaling pivot point; chosen to be comparable to early commercial solid-sorbent DAC facilities.
Captures modest economies of scale (specific CAPEX decreases with larger capacity).
Market range -0.05 to -0.30 (typical process plant screening exponents).
Prevents unrealistic extrapolation of very low specific CAPEX at large scales in a simple power-law model.
Prevents unrealistic specific CAPEX inflation when scaling below reference capacity.
Fixed 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.
Reference capacity for O&M fraction scaling.
Represents slight reduction in fixed O&M fraction at larger scale due to shared staffing and overheads.
Market range -0.2 to 0.0 (screening).
Lower bound for fixed O&M fraction to avoid unrealistically low O&M at large scale.
Upper bound for fixed O&M fraction to avoid unrealistic escalation at small scale in a simple curve.
