A company in Kenya is building a direct air capture (DAC) pilot project to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere.

According to Africa Business Communities, Nairobi-based Octavia Carbon is one of the first DAC companies in the Global South. It will build the facility in Naivasha as part of the Hummingbird Project.

The company is collaborating with carbon mineralisation company Cella Mineral Storage, which will inject the captured CO₂ directly into the volcanic rock of the Great Rift Valley, which has an estimated storage potential of about 400 gigatons of CO₂. The process is said to be safe and mimics natural rock weathering.

The DAC facility will use Kenya’s geothermal renewable energy to capture the CO₂, and about 1 kiloton a year will be stored underground.

The Hummingbird project is expected to start generating commercial carbon credits in October 2024.

The credits will be audited according to the Puro Standard, which uses laboratory testing and third-party auditing to verify all CO₂ Removal Certificates, and will be sold through the carbon credit marketplace.

25 July 2023
Image: Freepik