Direct air capture (DAC) plants operating today typically remove CO2 from the atmosphere at costs in the $500-1,000 per tonne range-orders of magnitude above most point-source capture projects. Yet DAC sits at the centre of many 1.5-C and 2-C climate scenarios, with pathways calling for 50-400 MtCO2/year of removal by 2030. At Energy Solutions, we track project pipelines, cost drivers, and energy use to understand where DAC stands in 2026-and what would need to happen for removal costs to push toward $200/tCO2 by 2030.
What You'll Learn
- DAC Basics: Technologies, Energy, and Project Types
- Current Cost Ranges and Energy Use in 2026
- Case Study: Three DAC Projects at Different Scales
- Global Perspective: US, Europe, Middle East, and Asia
- Devil's Advocate: Structural Limits and Risks
- Outlook to 2030: Cost Trajectories and Deployment Volumes
- FAQ: Accounting, Energy Mix, and Market Design
DAC Basics: Technologies, Energy, and Project Types
Two broad technology families dominate the DAC landscape today:
- Liquid solvent systems: air blown over alkaline solutions; CO2 is captured chemically and later released using heat for compression and storage.
- Solid sorbent systems: air pulled through contactors packed with solid materials that adsorb CO2 and then release it when heated or exposed to vacuum.
Both approaches are highly energy-intensive. Even with aggressive heat recovery and efficient fans, DAC generally requires tens of GJ of heat and electricity per tonne of CO2 removed, depending on configuration and climate.
Solvent-Based DAC
Higher temperature regeneration, often paired with natural gas or industrial waste heat; can integrate with existing process heat infrastructure.
Solid-Sorbent DAC
Operates at lower temperatures, more modular, and often positioned for all-electric operation with renewables and heat pumps.
Project Types
Early projects target permanent geological storage, synthetic fuels, or sale of removal credits to corporates with net-zero commitments.
Current Cost Ranges and Energy Use in 2026
Despite rapid learning, DAC remains expensive. Publicly reported and modelled cost ranges in 2025-2026 suggest the following order of magnitude:
Indicative DAC Cost and Energy Benchmarks (2025-2026)
| Technology / Scale | Capture Cost (USD/tCO2) | Heat Demand | Electricity Demand | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-of-a-kind liquid solvent (10 kt/yr) | 700-1,000 | 6-9 GJ/t | 1.0-1.5 MWh/t | High capex, little series learning, reliance on gas or industrial heat. |
| First-of-a-kind solid sorbent (10 kt/yr) | 500-900 | 3-5 GJ/t | 0.8-1.2 MWh/t | Lower-temperature heat, more modular but still early. |
| Next-gen solid sorbent (100 kt/yr cluster) | 300-600 | 2-4 GJ/t | 0.6-1.0 MWh/t | Assumes learning, better contactors, and optimised layouts. |
Values exclude downstream transport and storage, which can add $50-150/tCO2 depending on location.
Approximate Capture Cost by Technology & Scale
Simplified Cost Trajectory from FOAK to 2030 Target
Case Study: Three DAC Projects at Different Scales
Case Study - From Pilot Plant to Early Commercial Hub
This composite case study draws on public information from several DAC developers as of 2025-2026.
| Project Type | Nominal Capacity | Estimated Capture Cost (2026) | Energy Source | Offtake / Revenue Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urban pilot plant | 1 ktCO2/year | $900-1,200/t | Grid electricity + district heat | Small-volume removal credits for corporates; R&D funding. |
| First-of-kind remote plant | 10 ktCO2/year | $600-900/t | On-site renewables + waste heat | Long-term offtake contracts with tech firms and airlines. |
| Planned regional hub | 100 ktCO2/year+ | $300-600/t (target) | Dedicated renewables + heat pumps | Portfolio of removals for compliance-oriented buyers and states. |
Early projects lean heavily on grants, tax credits, and high-priced voluntary removal contracts ($600-1,200/tCO2). To move toward hundreds of kilotonnes, developers must blend public support with lower-priced offtake and more efficient plants.
Illustrative DAC Cost Breakdown (Next-Gen Solid Sorbent)
Global Perspective: US, Europe, Middle East, and Asia
DAC deployment is not geographically uniform. Different regions play distinct roles:
- United States: generous tax credits (for example, 45Q-type incentives), early procurement programmes, and strong venture funding have created the most advanced project pipeline.
- Europe & UK: focus on integration with existing CO2 transport and storage hubs in the North Sea; more emphasis on MRV (measurement, reporting, verification) standards and durability of storage.
- Middle East: abundant low-cost solar and existing CO2 handling infrastructure make DAC hubs around industrial clusters plausible, particularly for synthetic fuels.
- East Asia: growing interest in negative emissions as net-zero targets tighten, but DAC must compete with reforestation, BECCS, and industrial CCS for limited decarbonisation budgets.
Global capacity announced or under development is still measured in the low millions of tonnes per year-tiny compared with current fossil emissions, but large compared with only a few years ago.
Devil's Advocate: Structural Limits and Risks
Even supporters of DAC recognise fundamental challenges that may not disappear with scale:
- Thermodynamic penalty: pulling dilute CO2 from ambient air will always require more energy than capturing it from a concentrated smokestack.
- Land and infrastructure footprint: multi-MtCO2 hubs require large areas for fans, renewables, and storage infrastructure.
- Competition for clean energy: DAC plants powered with scarce renewables could crowd out other electrification projects if not carefully planned.
- Policy and MRV uncertainty: long-term acceptance of DAC removals in compliance markets depends on robust accounting rules and monitoring.
In short, DAC is unlikely to be a substitute for deep emissions cuts; at best it complements them by dealing with residual emissions that are hard to abate.
Outlook to 2030: Cost Trajectories and Deployment Volumes
By 2030, most credible scenarios see DAC costs falling but remaining well above many mitigation options. Based on aggregated modelling and early learning curves:
- Near-term cost range: many projects may land in the $250-450/tCO2 range for capture (excluding storage), with a few outliers lower or higher.
- Global volume: deployed DAC capacity could reach 10-60 MtCO2/year by 2030, depending on policy support, corporate demand, and technology success.
- Energy demand: at 30 MtCO2/year with 0.9 MWh/t electricity, DAC alone could draw ~27 TWh/year-roughly the annual electricity use of a medium-sized country.
For buyers and policymakers, the key is to treat DAC as a scarce, high-value removal option-prioritised for genuinely hard-to-abate sectors and paired with stringent MRV-rather than as a licence to delay mainstream decarbonisation.