I’ll be presenting at the International Conference on Negative CO2 Emissions event on Direct ocean capture: Opportunities and challenges as an emerging ocean-based CDR technology.
Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) is an emerging carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology that targets CO₂ dissolved in seawater. By using electrochemical processes to adjust seawater chemistry, CO₂ can be extracted while enabling the ocean to absorb additional CO₂ from the atmosphere—positioning DOC as a potentially valuable tool for climate mitigation.
A central challenge lies in the high energy demand and cost of seawater handling, particularly pumping and purification, which account for the majority of the system’s energy use. This makes standalone DOC systems expensive. However, integrating DOC with existing coastal infrastructure such as desalination plants or industrial cooling systems offers a promising pathway to reduce both energy consumption and overall costs.
This topic matters because meeting climate targets will require not only emissions reductions but also scalable carbon removal solutions. While DOC shows technical feasibility and advantages linked to ocean–atmosphere CO₂ dynamics, its large-scale deployment potential remains limited compared to global requirements, highlighting the need for further innovation and system optimization
The discussion aims to explore how DOC can be better integrated with existing systems, how costs can be reduced, and how it can complement other CDR technologies. Insights on scaling strategies and cross-sector collaboration would be particularly valuable to accelerate its practical implementation.