The Norwegian green industry developers BR Industrier and Vanir Green Industries have established a joint company to scale and industrialize Direct Air Capture (DAC).

The new company, Removr, will be 60% owned by Vanir Green Industries, a Nordic investment company committed to drive the energy transition, and 40% owned by GreenCap Solutions, a company controlled by the industry group BR Industrier.

“CO2 removal will be essential for the world to reach ambitious and necessary climate targets. Norway is ideally positioned to play a leading role in deploying large-scale, commercial DAC projects through its abundant supply of renewable energy combined with expertise on carbon capture and storage,”

said Managing Partner in Vanir Green Industries, Anders Hærland.

Vanir Green Industries took battery producer Freyr from the drawing board to listing on the New York Stock Exchange in less than four years, and now see a significant potential in Removr going forward.

Following four successful small-scale pilots, Removr’s ambition is to develop three industry projects before end 2027, including the world’s first 1-million-ton solid sorbent DAC plant. Removr’s DAC plants adsorb CO2 by utilising the microporous stone called zeolite, with pores the size of a CO2 molecule. When the zeolite is saturated, the CO2 is desorbed using heat and sent for storage as compressed gas or turned into liquid before it’s stored. This process is highly energy efficient compared to existing DAC technologies.

Removr follows a stepwise verification process in developing an industrial scaled up DAC farm where the current pipeline of projects include:

• By Q3 2023, establish a demonstration project in Iceland where Removr will capture CO2 and store it permanently in the available basalt formations
• In 2025, build an industrial pilot capable of capturing 10,000-100,000 tonnes of CO2 annually
• In 2027, establish the world’s first large-scale solid sorbent DAC plant with a capacity of up to 1 million tons CO2 annually

Einar Tyssen has been appointed CEO of Removr which will be headquartered in Oslo, Norway. Mr. Tyssen brings more than two decades of experience from leadership roles in energy and industry companies, most recently DNV.

“By leveraging GreenCap Solutions’ energy efficient and proven DAC technology and Vanir Green Industries’ track record of scaling new green industries, Removr plans to develop large-scale, commercial DAC plants at highly competitive cost levels. The fact that zeolite-based carbon capture has been used for decades in the space and petroleum industries, and that its applicability to DAC has been proven through four small-scale pilots over the last years, significantly limit the technology risk,”

said Mr. Tyssen.

Removr’s ambition is to become a global leader in developing large DAC farms. To help scale the technology, the company has entered into a collaboration with the leading research organisation SINTEF.

“Following a thorough screening of available DAC technologies, we are convinced that GreenCap’s technology using zeolite as adsorption medium is superior in terms of cost, sustainability and scalability. Together with SINTEF, we are confident that we can make a substantial contribution to battle climate change,”

said Mr. Tyssen.

“The Vanir Green Industries group has a proven track record in planning and executing large scale project development. We see that a joint effort through Removr will give us greater speed in developing large scale DAC,”

said Ørjan Aukland, CEO of GreenCap Solutions.

DAC is one of the promising negative emission technologies (NET), and one of few proven technology options available to remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere. The CO2 from DAC can be permanently stored in deep geological formations, thereby achieving negative emissions which can be sold as removal credits.

Scenarios made by IPCC and McKinsey conclude that there is a significant need for negative emissions in the gigaton range to achieve the 1.5-degree climate target.

For further information, please contact:

About GreenCap Solutions

GreenCap Solutions AS is a Norwegian environmental technology provider of large-scale carbon dioxide removal solutions. The company applies Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology to fully closed greenhouse systems, resulting in increased yield, greater resource efficiency and year-round production, and to industrial applications. GreenCap’s patented technology solves two of the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges: rising greenhouse gas emissions and resource scarcity. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Sandnes, Norway. For more information, please visit www.greencap-solutions.com.

About Vanir Green Industries

Vanir Green Industries is a Nordic industrial investment company. Vanir builds and scales green businesses to accelerate the energy transition. Vanir’s current focus areas include onshore and offshore wind, carbon capture, usage and storage, green steel, and energy storage. The company is located in Oslo, Norway. For more information, please visit www.vanir.as.

About BR Industrier

BR Industrier is a Norwegian industry group, totalling 30 companies focusing on the agricultural, oil&gas, production, and real estate sectors. BR Industrier employs around 1,000 people and is located in Sandnes, Norway. For more information, please visit www.br-industrier.no.

‍