How It Works - CO2Rail Company

Rail-Based, Self-Powered Direct Air Carbon Capture

“Rail-Based, Self-Powered Direct Air Carbon Capture”
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The Co2Rail System deploys proven technology for the Direct Air Capture of man-made Carbon Dioxide gas from the environment. It powers itself utilizing only no-carbon, onboard hybrid, regenerative braking energy generated from already running Trains in regular service and Railcar mounted solar cells.

^{“CO2Rail is poised to revolutionize carbon capture…”}
Advanced Science News – November, 2021 Link

^{“I believe CO2Rail is one of the few approaches to CDR that has a chance of succeeding as it looks at a system rather than an individual operation.”}
Peter Styring – Professor of Chemical Engineering & Chemistry at The University of Sheffield

Hybrid Self-Powered

Clean, no-carbon, hybrid, regenerative braking energy generated from stopping or slowing an entire Train many times per day powers the carbon capture process.

Solar Cells mounted atop some of the Train’s compatible railcars will add additional no-carbon energy to use in carbon capture (Future).

No Land-Based Footprint

Other DACC technologies will require tremendous land resources upon which to build farms of modular DACC units. This will necessitate the financial acquisition of, or grant of rights to, vast tracts of land for capture facilities, and even more land upon which to construct the renewable sources of energy necessary to power such.

To achieve the IPCC’s recommendations in a timely fashion, a capture capacity of 10 gigatons per year or greater is needed. To fulfill this need with land-based DACC deployments and required renewable power sources, a total land area approximately 2X the size of Switzerland would be required.

Emissions Mitigation

Certain specially designed CO2Rail cars can remove the emissions from the locomotives themselves with only minor exhaust routing modifications required thereof.

This will make rail transportation the world’s first carbon-neutral mode of heavy transport in addition to its primary role of removing mass quantities of anthropogenic CO₂ from the atmosphere.

Importantly, Rail DACC units are deployed only with already running freight or passenger trains in regular service, so there is almost no additional carbon debt incurred from operation even if emissions went uncaptured.

Efficient Operation

Co2Rail cars harvest many magnitudes more CO₂ than is indirectly emitted by the Locomotives in fuel from their operation in additional Train Loading, Aerodynamic Drag and Rolling Resistance.

No Fans Required

CO2Rail intakes extend up into the slipstream of the moving Train and collect massive amounts of air from which CO₂ is removed.

No energy-intensive fans are required to move air through the collection chamber.

Rail Sustainability

Rail is the most efficient form of scale Transportation and is 3-5x more fuel-efficient per ton transported than trucks. Higher rail utilization is good for the environment.

Co2Rail takes the already most efficient form of scale transportation and makes it nearly carbon-neutral in its operation to remove CO₂ from the air. Creating the world’s first large-scale carbon-negative mode of transportation. Carbon-Neutral in its Carbon-Negative operations – at scale.