This calculator computes the net removed cost ($/tCO₂eq) of carbon removal for a hypothetical DAC facility coupled to one of three different energy sources: natural gas combined with carbon capture and storage (NGCC), wind, and solar. The model estimates the levelized cost of energy, capital expenses, and operation and maintenance costs.
For natural gas, the model assumes that combustion for electricity production is coupled with carbon capture at 90% capture efficiency. The remaining 10% of emissions from electricity production are considered net emissions and factored into net removed cost using a GWP100 of 32. Additionally, the model assumes that all the natural gas combusted for thermal energy is co-captured by the process, resulting in no emissions from combustion. A leakage rate parameter accounts for natural gas leakage, which has been reported as high as 3.7% in the Permian Basin region of the United States.
Given the definition of net removed cost, it is possible to create parameter scenarios with NGCC that do not achieve net carbon removal, because emissions are too large. We show this case with gray bars in the calculator.
The entire model is implemented natively in JavaScript and available on Github, and a Python version is under development. The model is based directly on a paper by McQueen et al. (2021). There may be small differences (± $10) between the model outputs above and the results in the paper due to implementation differences.
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