Baker Hughes, HIF Global to collaborate on direct air capture

Baker Hughes’ Mosaic DAC technology captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (Illustration: Adobe Images.)

Baker Hughes and HIF Global announced plans to cooperate on the development of technology to capture carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. The technology, known as “CO2 Direct Air Capture” or “DAC”, will test existing Mosaic DAC technology pilot units from Baker Hughes in an effort to accelerate deployment at commercial scale.

“Groundbreaking technologies like Mosaic that enable efficient, low-cost CO2 capture from our atmosphere represent the future of CO2 recycling,” said HIF Global CEO Cesar Norton. “Cooperation with our partner Baker Hughes on this important DAC initiative accelerates our plan to capture 25 million tons per year of CO2 and combine it with green hydrogen to produce 150,000 barrels per day of eFuels and decarbonize over 5 million vehicles in use today.”

Lorenzo Simonelli, chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes, said collaboration between the two companies is key to accelerating the energy transition.

“This milestone agreement further illustrates the strength of Baker Hughes’ extended portfolio of Climate Technology Solutions, which includes a variety of CCUS technologies, and validates our strategy and commitment toward decarbonization,” he said.

Baker Hughes acquired Mosaic Materials in April 2022 to enhance its carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) portfolio. The company is focused on developing a proprietary direct air capture technology using Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) materials that can be used to separate CO2 from the atmosphere.

Baker Hughes is using modular design and material science to develop and scale Mosaic’s innovative technology with the goal to enable direct air capture with higher efficiency and lower cost.

HIF has two pioneering sites where it anticipates possible deployment of Baker Hughes’ Mosaic DAC technology. In Chile, the HIF Haru Oni eFuels Facility began producing its first fuels in December 2022 in Magallanes.

The fuels facility produces green hydrogen from wind electricity and water and combines the hydrogen with recycled carbon dioxide to produce synthetic fuels that can be dropped-in to existing vehicles without any modifications to their engines.

HIF Global is also completing the engineering for the first world scale eFuels facility in Matagorda County, Texas, and expects to begin construction in 2024.

Baker Hughes has more than 20 years of experience in CCUS technologies. The company’s portfolio of CCUS solutions, technologies, and services includes: pre-FEED and FEED consultation, project design, capture and purification, fit-for-purpose CO2 compression technology, well design and construction for storage, carbon transportation and injection, and monitoring and site stewardship.

HIF Global develops projects to convert hydrogen using low-cost renewable power into carbon-neutral liquid fuels that can be transported and utilized in existing infrastructure.