Carbon Catalyst

Can Kenya be a leader in carbon emissions direct air capture ?

By David Whitehouse

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Posted on July 27, 2023 04:00

DAC © An artist’s impression of plans for Africa’s first first direct air capture (DAC) and storage plant. — An artist’s impression of plans for Africa’s first first direct air capture (DAC) and storage plant.

A start-up is betting that Kenya is the perfect location for direct air capture to reduce C02 levels in the atmosphere.

Octavia Carbon, founded by Martin Freimüller, has partnered with New York-based carbon mineralisation company Cella Mineral Storage to build a pilot direct air capture (DAC) facility at Cella’s storage plant in Naivasha in the Rift Valley. The facility, which may become the first of its kind in the Global South, will remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and permanently store the waste underground.

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