Engineer-turned-entrepreneur Max Beaumont founded Skytree in 2014, following his work on DAC for theEuropean Space Agency.
Direct air capture
DAC machines suck CO2 from the air like a giant vacuum.
The CO2 they capture can be buried underground ormineralised into rockfor construction.
It can also be used to make anything fromcleaner chemicalstosustainable aviation fuelfor aircraft.
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One, Skytree Cumulus, produces 20kg of CO2 daily.
It is targetted at small-scale applications such as vertical farming and cannabis cultivation.
Farmers use the gas to boost plant growth.
The other unit, Stratus, is much bigger.
It captures up to 1000kg of CO2 per day.
Skytree designed Stratus for industrial-scale applications, such as for large greenhouses andgreen cementplants or for burial underground.
The startup is planning to build one of these hubs at its base in Amsterdam.
Once up and running, the company expects the machine to suck up 50,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
This means Skytree is poised for full-scale commercial deployment, a rare thing in the budding carbon capture industry.
Skytrees first customers have largely been greenhouses.
Now its looking to scale up and into new industries including food and beverage.
This builds on the 45Q tax credit laid out in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
The incentive provides up to $180 per metric ton of CO2 captured and stored.
Skytree said it chose Nashville for its office partly due to its close proximity to its manufacturing partner Scanfil.
The Swedish firm will make the Stratus and Cumulus machines at its factory in the nearby city of Atlanta.
Skytree expects to employ 80 people at its new HQ over the next three years.
The company is also planning to set up its own manufacturing facility at an undisclosed site in Canada.
Story bySion Geschwindt
Sion is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy.
